Cold Fire
by WindOfDancingFlames
Summary: What would you do if your best friend was about to die? What would you do to save him? This fiction is centered around Axel and Roxas. Has Demyx and Saix in later chapters. Some shonen ai. [kh2 spoilers]
1. The Beginning

Me: Hey people! It's me!

People:Hola.

Me: I've decided to write a tragedy! Yay for me!

There are no warnings for this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, or Kingdom Hearts 2 (which I am highly anticipating)

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Cold Flame

"_Hey, Axel!" the blonde screamed. "Wake up, you lazy bum!"_

_The unknown lying down lazily opened his eyes and slowly pulled himself up._

"_Roxas…," he said slowly. "Do you have to wake me up this early?"_

"_Yes," answered Roxas. "You didn't forget what we were going to do today, right?"_

_Axel looked at his friend and smiled._

"_I'm sorry, but I did kinda forget."_

_Roxas laughed. _

"_We were gonna go swimming in that lake today."_

_Axel's eyes suddenly lit up._

"_Now I remember," he answered. "But I thought we were going in the afternoon, when the water is warmer."_

"_Why should we go in the afternoon?" asked Roxas. "Xemnas would know that we snuck out of our jobs to go swimming. He would be mad for sure."_

"_Don't call the Superior that."_

"_What?"_

"_Xemnas. You know how much he hates that name."_

"_Oh, sorry. Sometimes I forget that."_

_Axel looked at his friend, and only friend again. Sometimes he was just the thing to brighten up his day._

"_Um…Axel? You're looking at me like that again. You know that disturbs me."_

"_Why do you think I do it?"_

_They both laughed. Finally Axel got up._

"_I'll race you there!" he yelled happily._

"_Like you can beat me!"_

_They both ran as fast as they could out of the castle. Of course, Roxas lost to Axel. After about one minute of running they got to the giant navy blue lake, shimmering slightly in the moon's pale light. Immediately Roxas took off his Organization robe to reveal a swimsuit and jumped into the freezing cold water. It was about one in the morning. He then swam back up to the surface and looked to his red-haired friend._

"_C'mon in, Axel! The water's really great!"_

"_Would 'great' in your dictionary just happen to mean 'cold'?" he said, testing the water with one toe._

"_Are you saying that you're too chicken to get into the water?"_

"_No, I'm not. I'm just saying that I hate the cold."_

"_Oh, c'mon! You'll get used to it!"_

"_I dunno…"_

_Roxas started making chicken noises._

"_Okay, fine! I'm getting in!"_

_He took off his robe and jumped in, creating a humungous splash. Of course, when he resurfaced he started spazzing out._

"_I th-th-thought y-y-ou s-s-said th-th-this w-was warm," stated Axel through chattering teeth._

_Roxas started laughing uncontrollably._

"_S-stop it! I-it's n-n-not th-that f-funny!"_

_Apparently to Roxas it was the funniest thing in the world, because he couldn't stop laughing. Finally Axel had to tackle him to get him to stop. He was definitely pissed._

"_Sorry about that," said Roxas. "You just should've seen the look on your face!"_

_Axel lowered his brow._

"_You're so immature," he said blatantly._

"_Says the guy whose best friend is a fifteen-year old kid," smirked Roxas._

_Axel smiled sarcastically._

"_Very funny," he said. "Now are we going to have some fun or what?"_

_Roxas smiled a Sora-ish smile._

"_Race you to that big rock!" he yelled._

_They both dove down into the water and swam towards the rock. Axel was used to the water now, so he didn't really mind going underwater. He resurfaced for a breath, relieved to see Roxas far behind him._

"_C'mon, you slowpoke!" he yelled. "You'll have to better than that to beat me!"_

_He went back underwater, not noticing Roxas's struggling. After a minute of swimming he reached the huge rock that protruded out of the middle of the lake. Roxas was nowhere to be seen._

"_C'mon, Roxas! I didn't know you were that slow!"_

_There was no sound whatsoever. Not even a slight lapping of waves could be heard._

"_Roxas! Where are you?"_

_Suddenly something burst out of the water. It was some kind of monster with black tentacles flailing around. It held a barely conscious Roxas in one of them. The tentacle was wrapped tightly around Roxas's throat._

"_Roxas! Hold on! I'll save you!"_

_He summoned his chakrams and tried to set them on fire. The only problem was that his magic was somehow blocked. He tried and tried agaon but felt the same barrier against him._

"_NO!" he yelled._

_He took a deep breath and went underwater. He could barely see because the water was so murky. He silently summoned his chakrams and plunged them into whatever it was that was attacking Roxas. He did it over and over again and finally went back up for a breath. He almost started crying when he found that the monster had almost all of its tentacles gripped around his friend._

"_ROXAS!"_

"_A-axel…"_

_Roxas's voice trailed off and his breathing stopped. Just then a tentacle wrapped itself around Axel's neck…_

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Axel woke up sweating profusely, making the covers of his bed stick to his skin. He looked around, his empty green optics flickering around the room. All was silent. All was dark. The moon outside gave off a faint light, barely enough to illuminate the room. He sat up, panting.

"That seemed so real, yet it was a nightmare," he said to himself. It had been almost a year since he had last seen Roxas. Roxas was his best friend and only friend. Roxas had been taken away from him by the Superior, who told him of the other side of his heart. Having become interested in this, Roxas went out to find his counterpart, Sora. On the way, Roxas encountered Riku, who eventually beat him in battle.

After that, Riku took Roxas to DiZ, who made Namine erase his memories of Axel and the Organization. DiZ made sure that Axel didn't know where Roxas was. Now Axel was lonelier than ever, wasting away in Deep Dive.

"_I have no purpose,"_ whispered Axel to himself. He was considered a traitor among all the members of the Organization and everyone hated him. And the worst part of it all was that it was true.

He ran an ungloved hand behind his neck and shuddered. He was incomplete. He was fake. He wasn't a real human being. And he knew it.

He folded the covers of his bed back and got up, covers still sticking to his skin. He lazily pulled them off and walked over to his bathroom.

"Each night the nightmares become worse," he said, looking in the mirror. He could barely stand looking at himself and quickly turned away.

"How can I be so hideous? Of all of the unknowns, why is it me who looks weirdest? I know Roxas didn't mind. But the others…"

Ever since Roxas had left, Axel talked to himself because no one else was kind enough to talk to him.

"Roxas…" he muttered desperately.

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Me: Well, that's the first chapter.

fg00: What the heck?

Me: Yeah, I know it's a little weird. I mean about the fact that practically all my stories are about Axel. (puts hand behind head)

Well, please review if you have pity for Axel. And me. But more of Axel than me.

REVIEW!


	2. Finding Roxas

Me: Hola! I'm trying to update this as fast as I can!

Everyone: Go! Go! Go! Go!

Disclaimer: I really don't own much of anything. (tee hee!)

Warnings: Maybe some violence. I highly doubt language, but it could be possible.

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Chapter 2- Finding Roxas

The unknown sat in the windowsill of his room. There was a slight wind outside, making the trees sway back and forth, scratching the window every so often. The branches' shadows danced across his face. Leaves blew around outside, scraping the ground. It was the middle of the night in Deep Dive, yet you could never tell. It was always dark outside. The moon was always out, waxing and waning in abnormal cycles. The moon's dim light lit up the unknown's face, making him the only thing visible in the room. The light reflected off a single tear rolling down his cheek.

The unknown watched the dead leaves swirl around outside, moving continuously, never stopping. He silently wished they would stop, reminding him of how he was alone. The branches of the tree scraped the window again, adding a little more sound to the silence in his heart. That is, if he had one.

He took a gloved hand and wiped away the tear, now almost dripping off of his chin. He shifted his position a little, still looking out the window. Sighing, he got up and walked over to his dresser. His eyes met a familiar picture, one of his best friend, Roxas. In the picture, he and Roxas were standing together, Roxas smiling idiotically and he giving him a noogie. He picked up the picture and smiled. He missed the good old days.

Suddenly someone knocked on his door. He looked around, startled, hiding the picture in his drawer.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"It's Demyx," said a muffled voice.

"What do you want?"

"Well, aren't we grumpy? Look, I need to talk to you."

"Fine. Just come in."

The door opened and in came Demyx, stupid smirk and all. He looked at the unknown weirdly.

"Have you been crying, Axel?" he asked. "Your eyes are all red."

"No," answered Axel. "I just didn't have a very good sleep."

Demyx's smirk got bigger.

"You miss Roxas, don't you?" he asked with fake sympathy. "You and he were such good friends."

"Why are you in here?" Axel's temper was starting to build.

"I just wanted to tell you that the Superior wants to see you, that's all. No need to get all grumpy about it."

Axel glared at him intensely.

"Thank you for the information, _Demyx._ Tell him I'll be there in ten minutes."

"He wants you _now._"

Axel's eye began to twitch.

"Get out and I'll go."

"Whatever you say."

Demyx chuckled slightly and disappeared.

"What a jerk," muttered Axel to himself.

He recited the teleportation spell in his head and went up to the Superior's room.

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Axel appeared in Xemnas's (1) room. It was all dark in there. The curtains were closed and there were no lights on.

"Hello, Axel," said a deep voice. "I'm judging that Demyx gave you my message."

"Yes, he did," answered Axel.

"Good. Have a seat."

He looked around. It was too dark to see where this "seat" actually was.

"Um, sir? I can't really see in here. Could you possibly turn on a light?"

"Take three steps to the left and you'll find one."

Axel shuffled his feet to the left and bumped into something, which was most likely the chair. He bent over and grabbed it, using his hands to find the right place to sit. Once he was sitting, the Superior spoke.

"I've been noticing that you seem distracted lately," he stated. "You fail to accomplish most of the assignments given to you. Is there a reason for this?"

"No, sir," Axel lied.

"Really? If I remember correctly, you had a strong friendship with number 13. Now he…"

"His name is Roxas," interrupted Axel.

"Right. Now he is gone, which I would presume makes you angry. Am I right?"

"Um…yes, sir."

"My question is, why would you be friends with him in the first place?"

"Well…you see…"

"Silence!" yelled the Superior.

Axel recoiled like a dog being yelled at by his master.

"S-sorry," he whimpered.

"Now let me tell you something, Axel." The Superior sounded stern. "If you continue to behave like this I will have to exterminate you. You cannot be distracted while you're on your missions! Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir."

"Very well, then. You're dismissed."

Axel stood up and teleported the heck outta there.

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Roxas's PoV

(_Flashback)_

"_Roxas…," a deep voice whispered. It reverberated around the room, making Roxas feel tiny._

_He slowly opened his eyes and saw all white._

"_Axel! Where are you!" he yelled out frantically._

_His sapphire blue eyes scanned the room, looking for the voice's owner. No one was in there. He was alone._

"_Axel? Anybody? Hello?"_

"_I'm afraid Axel isn't here," said the deep voice again. _

"_Where am I!"_

"_You're in Castle Oblivion."_

"_Castle Oblivion? I've never heard of this place. Is it in Deep Dive?"_

"_No. It's a whole different world entirely."_

"_What is your name?"_

_Suddenly a man whose face was wrapped in red bandages and had a long red cloak appeared before him._

"_My name is DiZ. And you are Roxas, I presume?"_

"_Yes, I am. How did you know that?"_

"_I had a little help."_

_He pointed over to a small blonde girl with medium-length hair. For some reason, Roxas hadn't noticed her before._

"_I'm Namine," she said shyly. "I-it's nice to meet you."_

_Roxas didn't answer. This was all too weird._

"_Why am I here?" he suddenly blurted out._

"_You have a special gift," said DiZ. "We can't have Axel messing with your mind."_

_Roxas's eyes widened._

"_You know where Axel is?" he asked excitedly._

"_Yes, but I'm afraid you won't be allowed to ever see him again."_

_Roxas snarled._

"_Who are you to say I can't see my best friend again!"_

"_Namine!" yelled DiZ._

_A giant crystalline flower formed around Roxas and he was trapped. DiZ walked over to him and touched the flower with a bandaged hand. Roxas looked behind the man and saw Namine with a sketchbook open. She mouthed the word "sorry" to him and he passed out._

_(End Flashback)_

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Axel's PoV

Axel walked down the long halls of Castle Oblivion, walking extra slowly to make sure he'd get to the meeting late. He made a left turn and walked into a room filled with five other unknowns – Vexen, Marluxia, Zexion, Lexaeus, and Larxene.

"You're late," stated Marluxia.

"Thank you for pointing that out, Captain Obvious," Axel retorted. He was in no mood to deal with Marluxia right now. He walked over to the darkest corner of the room and stood there silently. Marluxia made sure to give him an extra "I hate you" glare.

"Now, as we discussed earlier, the Keyblade Master is nearly hours away from entering my castle," continued Marluxia.

Axel made sure to snort extra loud when he said "my" castle.

"Would you like to say anything, Axel?" asked Marluxia impatiently. "Or are you just trying to make yourself look like an idiot in front of all of us?"

Everyone snickered.

"Ha, ha. Very funny," said Axel. "Actually, I heard that so called 'idiots' like me tend to live longer. They don't just listen to what some nimrod says."

Marluxia's face turned sour.

"Everybody only listens to me because they know that I'm doing the right thing for the Organization. Isn't that right?"

"Yes," chorused everybody. Axel laughed inwardly. They could be so gullible at times.

"So, about the Keyblade Master," said Larxene. "Any thoughts?"

"His name is Sora," said Axel.

"Excuse me?"

"His name is Sora. His name is not Keyblade Master."

"Whatever. So, any thoughts?"

"I say we should all gang up on him," said Lexaeus. "He would stand no chance."

"OR you could just leave him alone," Axel butted in.

Everyone gave him a weird stare.

"Will you leave us alone if you have nothing good to say?" asked Larxene.

"I would be more than happy to," he said with his eyes narrowed.

He walked out of the room and down the hall, hearing the unknowns in the room mutter something about him. He didn't really care, though. He was way too lonely to care.

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Roxas leaned on the right side of the Twilight Town Clocktower, looking out into the sunset in front of him. It was a mixture of all the warm colors, yellow, orange, and red. But it was mostly red. Blood red, if you want to be exact. For some reason, he liked the color red. It reminded him of something, he knew, but he didn't exactly remember what. He just liked it.

He started thinking deeply about his friends. They were his only friends. He had no one else there to comfort him. Yet even with them, he felt isolated, like he was on an island with no food or water. It felt like a big part of his heart was missing, and he didn't know how to fill it in. He just felt like a nobody.

"I wish I knew what was wrong with me," he said so softly that he could barely even hear himself. "I feel…so empty."

He tried holding back the tears of pity, but it didn't work. They slid silently down his cheeks, adding some warmth to his face. He smiled at the sudden burst of heat. He was usually cold all the time, so this was practically something new to him. He preferred warmth much more than the cold. He sat down near the edge of the clocktower, letting his feet dangle off the sides. He looked out into the horizon once again, seeing the bright flash of green light as the sun passed below the mountains.

Suddenly he smelled something. Was it…a fire? He looked around and tried to find a glimpse of smoke, but there was none to be seen. He stood up, alarmed, and ran into the clocktower. The smell was very close to him. Could it be that _he_ was on fire? He looked down at his clothes, not surprised at all when he saw that he wasn't on fire. Inside the clocktower it was pitch black, making Roxas blind. He didn't know where he was going and was extremely panicked.

"Don't be afraid, Roxas," said a soothing male voice from above.

Roxas stupidly looked around at the ceiling, knowing that he wasn't going to see anything.

"Who are you?" he asked the voice.

There was no answer. The smell of fire was a lot stronger in here.

"Who are you?" he repeated.

The voice didn't answer again. Roxas was extremely terrified now. Could the voice be a ghost? Or was the man the voice belonged to a stalker? Suddenly he heard footsteps…coming straight toward him. He ran away as fast as he could…into a wall. He crashed and fell over. It felt like his nose was bleeding, because there was something warm flowing out of it. He laid his head back down and groaned in pain. This man could easily catch him now.

"I'm not a stalker," said the voice. "I just want to help you find out who you really are."

A pair of warm hands stroked his face gently. This person might not be so bad after all. But he should still be on his guard. The man moved his fingers over to Roxas's nose and muttered something. His nose instantly felt better.

"How'd you do that?" asked Roxas, feeling his no-longer-bleeding nose. "Was that magic? I mean, I know that sounds stupid, because magic isn't real, but how did you do that?"

The man laughed.

"I used magic," he said.

"I don't believe you."

"You'd better believe me. More importantly, you'd better believe in magic."

"You sound like my kindergarten teacher."

"What kindergarten teacher?" asked the man, confused. "Did you hit your head too hard or something?"

"Of course not! Her name was Mrs. Walters and she was the nicest kindergarten teacher ever!"

"She's not real, though. Only a fake memory."

Roxas jumped up in anger.

"What do you know about _my _life!" he screamed. "I don't know who you are!"

"Yes you do. I'm your best friend."

"No…you…are…NOT! I do not have best friend that sounds like you! Go away!"

There was only silence. Roxas walked around, feeling the walls to know where he was going. He couldn't hear any breathing, which meant that the man could've gone. His fingers finally felt a cold pillar of marble, which indicated he was near stairs. He climbed down the stairs and ran home, scared of what, or who, was behind him.

When he was running, he hadn't noticed the tall, skinny man standing on the clocktower all dressed in black with cherry red hair watching him run away. He hadn't even noticed the single tear running down the man's cheek…

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(_Axel's POV-earlier)_

"Axel! Get your lazy ass outta bed! You've got an assignment!"

Axel opened his eyes lazily and sat up. The clock near the side of his bed said 2:29 A.M. Who would be so rude to wake him up this early? He shifted his gaze to where the voice yelled at him and saw Demyx standing there with a stupid little smirk on his face. He was an immature, hyperactive, schizophrenic brat, so that probably explained the rudeness thing.

"What do you want?" asked Axel grumpily. He was still half asleep.

"I already said it, weirdo," said Demyx. "You've got a mission!"

He jumped up in the air like a retard when he said that. Dear Lord, thought Axel. Clearly Demyx had too much sugar in his coffee that morning.

"Would you get out of my room so I can get ready?" asked Axel.

"Of course, your highness," he said in somewhat of a British accent.

A pillar of darkness appeared around him and he disappeared. Axel reluctantly got out of bed and put on his Organization robe, brushed his teeth, slept for another ten minutes (which he wasn't so reluctant to do), and went down to the main floor to get some breakfast.

What Demyx was doing in Castle Oblivion, Axel didn't know. He had always thought that the Superior thought Demyx was too young and immature to be in Castle Oblivion, without any "parental supervision". He went into the kitchen, which was white like every bloody thing in the castle, and picked out a blueberry muffin from the little breadbasket-which looked extremely perfect to eat.

He looked around, relieved to see that no one else was there. He took a bite into his muffin, which tasted just as good as it had looked. Suddenly a dark pillar appeared and out popped Demyx again, weird as ever.

"Where'd ya get the muffin?" he asked. "I'm hungry."

"In that breadbasket over there." He pointed to 'that breadbasket over there'.

"Thanks."

Before Axel could even turn his head towards the breadbasket, Demyx had already gotten a muffin and was standing next to him.

"I love muffins!" he yelled with muffin in his mouth. "The only ones I don't like are the bran ones, 'cuz those are for old people like Vexen."

Axel was really starting to hate this guy.

"Why exactly are you here?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be in Deep Dive with everyone else?"

"For the time being I am stationed here. But as soon as the Keyblade Master comes…"

"His name is Sora," interrupted Axel.

"Yeah, right. So anyway, as soon as the Keyblade Master comes I'll be outta here."

"Great," said Axel sarcastically. Sora would be there in an estimated time of about three and a half days, which was _way _too much time to spend with Demyx. Finally his mind went back to the point. "So what's my mission?"

"You have to help me find Roxas."

Axel was dumbstruck. Surely the Superior didn't hate him so much as to actually go on a mission with a psycho nutjob, especially when it was to find his long-lost best friend that he hadn't seen in half a year. It probably couldn't get any worse.

"Oh yeah, and Xemnas said that I have to share your room with you, too," added the psycho nutjob.

_Now_ it couldn't get any worse. Axel nearly fainted when he heard that. There were thirteen friekin' floors in the castle and they didn't have at least _one _room that Demyx could sleep in? What did he do to deserve this! Then suddenly an ingenious idea popped into his head.

"You're sleeping on the floor. That's the only way you're gonna sleep in my room." It seemed like a pretty good idea.

"But I don't wanna sleep on the floor," Demyx whined. "I want a nice, warm, and toasty bed!"

Demyx's neck was just begging to be strangled by him.

"Look, I only have one bed and it's barely big enough for _me _to sleep in. And there is _no way _I'm sleeping on the floor. End of story."

Demyx turned his head and looked at Axel right in the eye. His eyes suddenly turned anime-style and enlarged about ten times. He even managed a tear and a cute little pout.

"That's not going to work on me, Demyx," stated Axel. "You might as well quit while you're ahead."

Of course he didn't. His eyes just got ten times more big and bright and he even started whimpering. Axel couldn't take it anymore. It was way too cute for him to handle.

"Fine! You can sleep in my bed tonight!" he yelled in a fiery rage. "Just cut the whole cute thing out!"

"Yes! I knew that would work!"

He did another one of his retard jumps, ate the rest of his muffin in one bite, and bounded out the door. Axel on the other hand took his muffin and threw it at the wall in rage. He teleported out to the front of the castle, where Demyx was already waiting for him.

It was going to be a really long day…

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(_A few hours later)_

The two Unknowns sat in the endless abyss while discussing their plans to find Roxas. They had been there for literally hours debating on who should go where and what the heck they should do. Axel was about to blow up.

"Okay. You go to Twilight Town and I go to the Underworld," said Demyx. "We'll meet back at the castle when it is dark outside."

"And who made you the boss?" asked Axel.

"I did. Now let's move!"

Both summoned up dark pillars and stepped into them. Little did Axel know that he would soon meet with his best friend Roxas again that day…

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_(Roxas's POV)_

What happened the night before had seemed like a dream to Roxas, or maybe it was a nightmare. He couldn't tell. It was frightening indeed, but it seemed familiar for some reason. It seemed that whatever, or whoever, in there was that missing piece in the puzzle he called his life. He couldn't help but to go back there the next day, which was exactly what he was doing now.

He walked along the streets of Twilight Town, which was strangely quiet today. Usually it was buzzing with excitement with all of the marketplaces and places to go. Not even one person was out there today. Something was amiss…

Roxas ran around the corner and came into a large plaza. Nearly everyone in town was there. He was surprised that he hadn't heard the roars of the crowd before. He ran over to where his friend were standing.

"What's going on?" he gasped.

"What do you mean?" asked the fat one. (2) "Don't tell me you didn't forget!"

"Umn…I guess I did, 'cuz I don't remember."

"BOCCERBALL TOURNAMENT!" they all screamed. (3)

"Huh?" Roxas was confused.

"You are one of the contestants!" yelled the girl. "Good luck!"

"But I-"

Before he could finish his sentence he was pushed out into the large area that was cleared for the game.

"Next contestants are Vivi and Roxas! Begin!" yelled some announcer.

Suddenly what looked like a padded baseball bat appeared in his hands and he stepped forward. In front of him was something that looked like a heartless with a talking hat. It too had a padded baseball bat. The thing, presumably called Vivi, jumped at him and whacked him with the bat. Dozens of red orbs jumped out of him and Vivi collected them all. The crowd cheered their heads off. Apparently the object of this game was to collect as many of these orbs as you could before time ran out.

Roxas ran forward and whacked Vivi, sending more orbs out of him. He did this over and over again, until the score was 120 to 34. The buzzer sounded and the round was over. He had won!

"And the winner is…ROXAS!" yelled the announcer.

The crowd cheered their heads off once more. Roxas smiled in triumph.

"It appears that I have lost," said Vivi. His voice sounded like a little kid's.

Roxas waved over to his friends and they waved back. The crowd hadn't stopped cheering yet. This was awesome.

Then suddenly the crowd stopped cheering. Time froze just as Roxas was standing there. He looked everywhere to see that everything was frozen. Vivi was standing there with a blank look on his face. Suddenly a great white mass formed around him and he turned into something extremely hideous. It was white and had a flat head. It was the only thing there that was moving. Then everybody else turned into these creatures. There were at least twenty of them in all.

"What's going on!"

His hands got a buzzing sensation and lit up. When he looked down there was a giant key in his left hand.

"What the-?"

He went into an attacking stance and whacked the nearest of the white creatures with the key. It instantly vanished. He guessed this key was a weapon. He ran around the area and slaughtered all of the creatures. Once he was used to it, it was pretty easy. With all of the monsters gone, he went back to his regular stance. He was panting extremely heavily. He barely had time to recuperate when he heard clapping, like somebody had thought this was some kind of a play that needed an applause. Who would be rude enough to do that?

He turned around and saw some dude who was practically a stick dressed in a black robe. He had a hood on and not one inch of skin was visible. The man was still clapping when he turned around, as if he was trying to aggravate him.

"Roxas!" yelled the man. He sounded like a maturing teenager. "How nice to see you again!"

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1. In case you didn't know, Xemnas is the Superior's name.

2. Okay, so I don't know Roxas's friends' names!

3. I don't know what the game is called, so I just mixed baseball and soccer together.

Well, that's the second chapter. I know it's a lot longer than the first one, but I had a lot more time to type than usual. And sorry it took so long to update, but had blocked my updating ability for a short amount of time.

Please review!

XD


	3. Torture With Demyx

Hello! It's me again!

People: Not you!

Yes me! And now I shall point out some mistakes in the second chapter. Recently I have discovered that "boccerball" is actually called "Struggle." My bad on that one, folks.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Not Reno, not Axel, not Zexion, not Roxas, and not any other insignificant characters that I forgot to mention.

Warnings: Well, even though I love Zexion to tiny bite-sized little pieces, there is going to be slight Zexion abuse in this chapter. As far as language and violence, I would think not very much. I dunno. I could be wrong.

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Chapter Three: Torture with Demyx

"What do you mean 'how nice to see you again'?" asked Roxas.

"You must not remember," laughed the man. "You're so lucky, having your life this easy. Of course, you wouldn't remember your previous life. I'm sure someone erased your memories…"

The man seemed to be mumbling to himself.

"I'm sure you're wondering what my name is," he continued.

He jumped as if he were going to attack Roxas. Roxas jumped into an attacking position, startled. But the man didn't attack him. Instead he lifted his hand up and pulled down his hood, revealing spiky red hair that was pulled back and neon green Egyptian-style eyes with green tears under them. He looked much older than his voice sounded, and definitely more mature.

"I'm Axel," he said smiling.

"Axel?" asked Roxas.

"Yes. That's my name. Does it sound familiar to you? Is that why you repeated my name? Or were you just trying to verify it with me?"

Roxas stood with his mouth open. What was going on? This man must be crazy, he thought. Suddenly the area behind him faded and moved in some sort of entrancing pattern. The town behind him looked distorted in a way. He slowly backed up. The Axel guy looked around, puzzled.

"Huh?" whispered Axel.

The giant key appeared in Roxas's hands again. The familiar buzzing sensation came back again. The key might be the only reason that this day was getting weirder and weirder by the second. He suddenly got angry at it.

"What is this thing! I don't want it, whatever it is!" he shouted.

He threw it on the ground in rage, where it landed a few feet away from Axel. He stopped moving for a moment to see if it was going to turn into something and attack him, but instead it flashed back into his hand with a beam of yellow light.

"The Keyblade chooses you," said Axel evilly. "You can't get rid of it until it starts holding a grudge or something."

"You're lying!"

"I really wish that I was, but sadly I'm not."

Axel drew his weapons.

"I guess I'll just have to force you to come with me. After all, you are my friend."

Roxas jumped into attack position. Whatever the hell this guy wanted, he was going to have to work for it. He ran forward and Axel jumped backwards so fast that he could barely see him do it. He was fast, but he could still lose. Roxas ran forward again and whacked at Axel like crazy. A few times Axel would suddenly poof behind him and whack him, but overall he was easy to fight. The only attack that almost killed him was when Axel would bend down on his knees and summon up a great force of fire. He could tell that this man loved fire. Every other attack involved it. Once the battle was over, the man stood there panting with his wheels in his hands.

"You're pretty good," he panted.

Just then a pillar of binary codes appeared behind Roxas and out popped a man with tons of red bandages and scarves. His eye showing was a very bright orange. His overall appearance was quite freaky.

Roxas looked back at Axel, who had miraculously stopped panting in the two seconds that he had looked away. He was standing up straight and tall, with both of his weapons at the ready.

"So it was you…" drawled Axel slowly.

He jumped backwards and spun his two chakrams in the air. They instantly went ablaze and he threw them at the man in the red bandages. For some reason, they were blocked with some kind of invisible force field and didn't even scratch the man.

"Roxas," the man's voice sounded deep, and so familiar. "That man's words are meaningless."

"Roxas!" yelled Axel. "Don't listen to _him_." He made sure to put extra emphasis on the word _him._

"Roxas!" yelled the man.

"ROXAS!" yelled Axel louder.

They both yelled his name so much that their voices blended together, making his head hurt extremely badly. He clutched his head firmly with both of his hands and yelled his friends' names out loud, trying to drown out Axel's and weirdo man's voices. The whole town shook with a bright flash of white light….and Roxas was back with his friends. Vivi was laying down on the ground, defeated, and the Struggle bat was back in his hands. There was no sign of Axel or the other man anywhere. Could he have been dreaming?

He felt a sharp poke on his arm. He snapped back into reality. He looked in that direction and saw the oldest of his friends with his finger still extended toward him.

"Are you okay, Roxas?" his friend asked. "You looked totally out of it."

Roxas stood there and stared ahead of himself. Finally he said something.

"Yes……..I'm okay."

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(_Axel's PoV)_

Axel walked along the long, white halls of Castle Oblivion, not really knowing where the heck he was going. In fact, he didn't even know why he was walking, judging that he could teleport. He only really thought when he had to, which was practically never. He made a sharp right turn and went into his bedroom. It was black, contrary to everything else in the castle, except for Zexion's room-which was also black. The crimson curtains hung lazily off of the top of the windowpane, blocking out every ray of golden light that was usually streaming into the room. He went over and sat down on his bed. Immediately he fell over and sunk into his bed, breathing a deep sigh of relief.

"Rough day, huh?" said a voice behind him.

Axel slowly hoisted himself up and turned his head to see Zexion standing there.

"What are you doing in my room?" he asked groggily.

"Well, I figured that you could use someone more mature than Demyx to hang out with for a while."

"How do you know about that? And since when do you want to 'hang out' with anybody?"

"What? Just because I never talk and never fight makes you believe that I have no interest in hanging around some of my comrades?"

"Yep. Pretty much."

"Well, I can leave if you want."

"I wasn't saying that."

"Well, it sure felt like it."

"Okay, fine. Just tell me how you figured out about Demyx staying here and everything."

"I overheard you people talking. Sadly, I have nothing else better to do."

"Hmmmm…that's kinda pathetic."

Axel yawned and fell over on his bed once more.

"Did you find Roxas?" asked Zexion.

Axel closed his eyes and paused for a moment. Just hearing his name would bring back memories of his best friend. After a few minutes, he spoke.

"No," he answered. "There was no trace of him anywhere."

Zexion walked over to his bed and sat down on it right next to Axel.

"Are you sure?" he asked calmly.

Axel looked up at him. He must be doing this on purpose, he thought.

"Don't get angry. I just asked a question," said Zexion.

Axel hated how he could smell emotions. He suddenly felt Zexion's finger tap him on the shoulder. He immediately swatted it away. Zexion did this again, and this time he rolled over.

"Answer me, Axel."

This was _exactly _what he needed right now. He needed someone poking him to death while he was in a state of mental and emotional despair. He could feel the tears prick at the back of his eyes. I mustn't cry, he thought to himself. Especially in front of Zexion.

"Don't cry, Axel."

He clenched his teeth in anger. Was he trying to comfort him? He was doing a very bad job at it, if he was.

"Get out of my room, Zexion."

"I'm only just…"

"Get out! NOW!" he screamed.

But he didn't feel the bed shift as if Zexion were getting up. He could still hear his breathing.

"I said GET OUT!"

Without warning he bolted upright, grabbed Zexion by the neck, and rammed his head straight into the marble wall as hard as he could. Zexion fell onto the floor in a heap as Axel let him go. When he looked down, he could see that Zexion was unconscious with his head tore open and bleeding. He couldn't help but think that he got just a little bit too angry. After all, Zexion was supposedly trying to help.

"Well, _somebody _needs anger management classes," said a childish voice behind him.

He turned around, and not to his surprise, saw Demyx there with his stupid little grin.

"I'm here to move in," said Demyx. "And you might want to move Zexion out of the way. I suggest we use him as a doorstop for that bathroom door. It always swings back and forth when you open it. It gets really annoying.

"If I were you, I would shut up before you end up like Zexion," said Axel through his teeth. "I'm going to take him to his bedroom where he doesn't have to be around people like you."

"Whatever," said Demyx. "When you come back, could get me a piece of that chocolate cake that Marluxia has been saving in the fridge?"

"If you want it, then get it yourself," said Axel.

He went and picked Zexion's unconscious body off of the ground and carried it out of his room.

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(_Later)_

He placed Zexion's body on the bed and wiped away the silver tears that were now rolling down his cheeks. He didn't even know why he was crying. Was he crying because of self-pity? Was he crying because he knew that Roxas didn't even remember who he was? Or was he crying for Zexion's sake? There were too many choices to choose from. He walked over to Zexion's bathroom and got a towel from it. He went over to where Zexion lay and wiped the blood that was still pouring out of the wound in his forehead.

"I'm sorry," he said.

He walked back to the bathroom and washed out the towel. He then hung it back up on its rack and walked toward the door. But just as he was turning the knob he heard a soft whimper from behind him. It was barely audible. He turned around to notice that Zexion was moving slightly.

"A-axel….?" He murmured.

He walked over to where Zexion was, ignoring the fact that he was still crying. He could see that he was looking at him with a very blank expression on his face.

"Why?" he whimpered.

Axel's chin quivered a little.

"W-why what?" he asked.

"Why are you crying?"

Axel couldn't handle it anymore.

"I MISS ROXAS!" he screamed, still crying.

He took a deep breath in and fell over. Despite his current condition, Zexion got up off of his bed and went over to Axel, who was gasping on the floor.

"Are you okay?" asked Zexion.

"Are you?"

"No. My head…hurts really……………bad."

"I'm sorry," said Axel between gasps. "I can get overreacted at t-times."

"Get up," said Zexion sternly.

He bent down, almost falling over in pain. He extended his arm toward Axel and Axel grabbed it. Once he was standing up again, Zexion went and got him some Kleenex.

"Why were you such good friends with Roxas?" asked Zexion. "Was it just a natural thing, or what?"

"I dunno. I just found him very charming the first time I met him."

Axel blew his nose so hard that whatever Zexion had said was inaudible.

"What?" he asked.

"I said I feel sorry for you. I mean, losing your best friend and all."

"Since when do you have feelings?" Axel stated ever so bitterly.

Zexion gave him a death glare.

"You know I will have to tell the Superior about this," said Zexion.

Now Axel gave Zexion a death glare.

"You wouldn't dare."

"I would."

"Do you want your head to hurt even more? Or do you really want to tell the Superior about this?"

"Fine. If you agree that you will never mention what happened today, then I will never let anyone know, including the Superior."

"And what about Demyx?" asked Axel. "He saw everything that happened."

"I'll get Namine to erase his memories overnight. Or should I say, _rearrange _them. That's no problem."

"You've got yourself a deal, then."

"Good," said Zexion.

They both shook hands and Axel left the room as fast as he could.

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_(Later Again)_

"Hey, punk! Did you get me that chocolate cake?"

Axel walked into his room and fell down on his bed once again.

"Hey, I asked you a question."

He looked up and saw Demyx looming over him. He barely even noticed the little runt when he first came into his room. He kept his gaze locked at Demyx's blue eyes.

"No, I didn't," he answered. "And just for your information, I'm not getting any for you either."

"Well, you're mean. Now please get off _my _bed."

"Your bed? Since when is this your bed?"

"Since yesterday, remember? I gave you the puppy dog pout and you fell for it, therefore giving me your bed for the remainder of the time I spend here."

Axel was befuddled.

"Since when do you use such big words?"

Demyx laughed a girly laugh and………………….started dancing?

"I've been hanging around Vexen _all day long. _It kinda rubs off on you."

"Oh," said Axel. "That explains everything."

"Now get offa my bed."

"Okaaaaaaay. How 'bout no."

"It's your funeral."

Before you could say 'antidisastablishmentarianism', Demyx had jumped forward and had landed precisely on the spot where Axel was laying.

"My !(ing back!" screamed Axel.

Demyx then pushed himself up and pushed Axel off of the bed.

"My !(ing back even more!" screamed Axel again.

"You just said a bad word!" gasped Demyx. "Bad Axel!"

Axel had enough of this, and he had only been with Demyx for five minutes. He hoisted himself up and gave Demyx an extremely evil death glare.

"That's not good," said Demyx.

Axel gave a war cry and leaped forward at Demyx. After some kind of struggle, Axel had managed to lift Demyx over his head and threw him across the room, where he landed with a reassuring thud.

Of course, it didn't turn out that reassuring because within a few seconds Demyx was back on his feet.

"Why you #)$#ing (#!# little #!$#, I otta !$ing (#!#$ you!" yelled Demyx at the top of his lungs, much to Axel's embarrassment (and horror).

"How do you know those words of evil?" asked Axel.

"I dunno," said Demyx. "I think I heard you say them once."

"Oh, that explains everything."

Axel got up on his bed once more. Demyx, however, didn't like it and attempted to push Axel off again. But knowing Axel, he had learned his lesson and had rolled over before Demyx could land on him. Catching Demyx off guard, Axel threw _him _off of the bed. Demyx gave him a dazed and confused look, which made him laugh out loud uncontrollably. He was actually having fun! This was like a game that he and Roxas used to play together. And that was just enough to get him sad. Just thinking about Roxas made him feel nostalgia. Of course, all of this thinking had caught him off guard, and before he realized it, Demyx had landed on him once again.

"Ha ha! Got you!" yelled Demyx. "Hey, wait. Are you okay? Looks like someone killed you and you reincarnated into a llama."

Axel looked at Demyx and quirked and eyebrow.

"What?" asked Demyx. "It's true. It really looks like that."

"Well, for your information, I hate llamas, so that was a major insult."

"Oops. Sorry."

Axel laid his head down on his bed again, and realized that Demyx was still laying on him. It was really interfering with his whole plan for sleeping.

"Would you get off of me, Demyx?" he begged.

"Only if you give me the bed tonight."

"No way! I need my bed tonight!"

"Then how about you sleep in your bed tonight and I sleep in your bed tomorrow night?"

Axel actually had to think now. If he slept in his bed tonight, then maybe he could find out a way to sleep in it tomorrow night. Then all would be happy.

"Okay, you've got yourself a deal," smirked Axel.

"Awesome! Now where do you have a sleeping bag?"

"A what?"

"A sleeping bag! You don't expect me to sleep on the floor like a mangy dog, do you?"

"Well, actually…"

"Do you have an extra blanket and a pillow?"

"Um…yes…but…"

"Good! Now where are they?"

"Would you ever let me finish my…"

"No! Of course not!"

"Okay then, the pillows and blankets are in the…"

"Closet! Of course! Thank you, Axel!"

"No prob…"

"…lem! Sorry. I just had to do that."

He ran over to the closet as fast as he could, grabbed a blanket and some pillows, and had them all set up before you could say 'supercalafragalisticexpialadocious'.

"Hey!" yelled Demyx. "I've got an idea! Why don't we do fun sleepover stuff!"

"You mean like sleeping?" asked Axel sarcastically.

"No! I mean like telling each other things that are weird and telling scary stories!"

"Um, Demyx, I think it's called a _sleep_over not a _lets'stayupallnightlongdoingthingsthatthematureguydoesn'twanttodo_over."

"True, but sleeping isn't fun at all! How about I tell you a scary story and if you like it, then you can give it a try! Okay? Okay."

"But I didn't…"

"Once upon a time, there were these evil toast monsters…"

There was a dull thud and then everything remained quiet.

"Go on...," said Axel.

But he didn't go on. Axel looked down and saw that Demyx had fallen asleep.

"He must've had way too much sugar today," he snickered to himself.

The rest of the night didn't go very well because, well, Demyx snored _really loudly. _Axel got approximately one hour of sleep that night.

Tomorrow was going to be an even longer day……….

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Sorry to end the chapter so quickly, folks, but my parents are chiding me right now to get into bed. So I gotta go. Pleez review! I only have 11 reviews so far!

Thanx!

P.S. REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!


	4. Torture With Demyx Again

Me: Hello good people that read this story. I'm going to try and get it all up before March 28, considering that KH2 comes out that day. I highly doubt it, though. I'm way too lazy. And about last chapter, horsie890, I'm truly sorry about the Zexion abuse. It's just that Zexion was in that room, and Axel was feeling all angsty. I was just compelled to do it. Please forgive me.

Disclaimer: Hmmm…how many things are there that I don't own? Let's see. There's Square Enix, Disney, all of the Organization people, Reno, Sephy, a laptop, and some other junk I'm sure.

Warnings: I'm thinking mild violence and maybe language. Well, actually, judging about how my brain works, I don't know what I think. But I'm sure there's going to be something bad in here. Oh wait. I know now. Sorry to say this, horsie890, but there will be some Zexion abuse in this chapter. It's the last time, though. I promise.

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Chapter Four: Torture With Demyx…Again

That morning Demyx woke Axel up at about four, so it wasn't as early as yesterday. The poor redhead was up nearly all night crying, feeling both sorry for himself and Demyx's retard brain. When he woke up, his eyes hurt and were very puffy. Demyx was nowhere in sight. He guessed that mullet man had woken him up and run off someplace. He wasn't sure exactly how long ago that was. He must've gone down to the kitchen. But when he heard the running water, he knew that he was taking a shower. The bad news about that was that he had to go to the bathroom.

He slowly and reluctantly got up and knocked on the bathroom door. He swore he heard singing. It was something like…

"_My Shadow's the only one who walks beside me, My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating…"_

"Demyx?" he yelled into the door.

The singing stopped.

"Yes?" came a muffled reply.

"Are you taking a shower?"

"Myes."

"How long have you been in there?"

"Only about half an hour. Well, I think so. I dunno. I don't really keep track."

This guy was hopeless.

"Do you know when you're going to be out?"

He was doing the 'I really have to go to the bathroom' dance now.

"I think I'll be out in a good half hour or something. Why?"

He couldn't wait **half an hour. **That was way too long. Either he would have to get Demyx out of there _now _(which was highly improbable), or he would have to use someone else's bathroom. That gave him an idea. Zexion was always either unconscious or dead at this hour, Larxene was just _evil, _Lexaeus was just stupid, Vexen was too old, and then there was Marluxia. Marluxia was always up this early in the morning. He could go in there. That is, unless he didn't die from all of the pink décor in there.

"Ummm…never mind!" he yelled.

"Whatever."

He ran as fast as he could outta there. Even though he _could _teleport, he had to go to the bathroom so badly that he didn't even think of it. All that he could think of right now was the fact that he had to go to the bathroom extremely badly.

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(_outside Marly's room)_

Axel jumped up and down and reluctantly knocked on Marluxia's door. He heard the soft thud of footsteps coming his way and the door opened. There stood Marluxia in his light pink robe and pink bunny slippers. Axel almost gagged.

"Um…hi, Axel. Whudda you want?"

"I've got to go to the bathroom really bad and Demyx is using mine because he's taking a shower so could I use yours?"

"Um…sure. Just don't…"

"Right! Got it!"

He raced past Marluxia as fast as he could, went into the bathroom, closed the door, and locked it.

"Whoa," muttered Marluxia to himself. "I didn't even get to finish my sentence. He must've _really _had to go."

After a few minutes, (AN: I don't want to go into very much detail), Axel came out of the bathroom with a grin from ear to ear on his face.

"Thanks, Marly," he said. "I owe ya one."

"Yeah…no problem."

Just as Axel was walking out of the door, Marluxia slapped him on his buttocks. (1) Axel turned around to see a smirking Marly. He shuddered and ran out of there as fast as he could.

"Why do they always run?" muttered Marluxia to himself. "Mph. Whatever."

He went on to doing whatever he does at four o' clock in morning. Only God knows what.

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(_thirty minutes later)_

Demyx was out of the shower now and was just going down to the first floor to get breakfast. Axel was already down there, along with Zexion, as Demyx soon found out. They were talking, which was surprising because they were usually enemies of each other. They both had steaming hot cups of coffee in their hands and were occasionally sipping at them from time to time. Demyx walked into the kitchen with his dopey smile on. Axel and Zexion immediately stopped talking.

"Hey, Zexy," said Demyx. "What're you talking about?"

He didn't answer.

"Earth to Zexion! Did you even hear what I said?"

"Yes, he did," said Axel.

"Well, can't he say if he heard what I said himself?"

"Yes, but he doesn't like talking."

"Well, couldn't he say that himself?"

"Yes, but that would be **talking."**

Demyx stood there and pondered.

"Then how come you guys were talking if Zexion doesn't like to talk?" he asked all smart alecky.

"Because we were talking about something important."

"Oh. I get it."

He went over to the breadbasket and picked out a blueberry muffin. Then he walked over to where Zexion was standing and leaned against the wall. He looked at Zexion and quirked an eyebrow.

"Hey Zexy, what happened to your head?" he asked.

Axel and Zexion looked at each other.

"I…ran into a…wall," said Zexion quietly.

"Could you say that any slower?" asked Demyx. "I mean really! Heeeey…look at me…I'm Zexion. I…talk…reeeeeeeeeeeeally…slowly."

"If you're trying to be funny, it isn't working very well, Demyx," said Axel.

For some strange reason, Axel and Zexion simultaneously took sips of their coffee. Demyx took a bite of his muffin. All was quiet. For about two minutes, nobody spoke.

"So…umm…do you guys like it here better or…?" asked Demyx.

The silence was gone. Demyx just had to ruin everything.

"What do you mean?" asked Axel with a disgruntled sigh. (2)

"I mean, do you like it here in Castle Oblivion better or in Deep Dive better?"

Axel had to think now. This place did have some advantages. It was bigger, it had much better plumbing, and the decorations were pretty nice (except for the fact that they were all white). But it mostly had disadvantages. First of all, it was run by a pink-loving flower boy who was most likely gay, and second of all, it was a lot louder than Deep Dive. Axel hadn't been able to get a good ten hours of sleep since he left his old home. Deep Dive was so secluded and quiet, and not to mention nice and dark. It was also the first place he met Roxas…

"Yeah, I kinda like it at Deep Dive better," said Zexion, breaking his train of thought.

"Me too," said Axel.

"Well, just in my personal opinion, I kinda like it here better," said Demyx. "It's so much roomier and cheery."

"Then you can have it," said Axel and Zexion together.

"Whoa. Stereo."

Demyx took another bite of his muffin and walked over to the counter where the coffee was at. But Axel was there before him.

"You can't have any coffee, Demyx."

"Why not?"

"Because you are at a very young age and you don't need it."

"But…but I like it."

"I can understand that, but it would be a waste of coffee if you drank it."

"But I'm not that young! I think I was eighteen in the previous life! You need coffee when you're eighteen!"

"Yes, but we thirty-year-olds need it more than you eighteen-year-olds."

He chugged down his coffee as if he were trying to prove his point. He could've sworn that he heard Zexion laugh.

"If I were you, I'd stick to cocoa for a few more years," said Zexion.

Zexion teasingly downed his coffee too. Demyx scowled at both of them.

"You two are so immature!" he yelled. "I'm getting out of here before you people annoy me to death!"

He stuck his chin up and left the room with a swoosh of his cloak.

"Well, that was just plain weird," said Axel.

"Yeah, but at least we got rid of him," commented Zexion.

"So very true. I'm glad you got Namine to erase his memories. He would've told everybody if you hadn't."

"It was easy, really. All you need to do that is a little threat to that blond dork and she'll do anything you say."

"Really? What'd you say?" he snickered. For some reason, Axel was feeling evil today.

"You wouldn't want to know," said Zexion.

"Why not? Is it bad or something?"

"No…I dunno. I guess it is."

"Well, give me hint if you aren't going to tell me."

"Okay. You know that kid, Roxas?"

He had just hit a raw nerve.

"Yes. I do."

"And you know how Namine is obsessed with that kid, right?"

"Yeah, kinda." He actually didn't know, but in the very pits of his tiny stomach he felt some sort of anger towards the girl building up. She should know that Roxas was _his_, and nobody else's.

"Well, I threatened to hurt him. She listened to me right away."

The feeling was starting to grow. Not just toward Namine, but toward Zexion.

"Y-you wouldn't really hurt him anyway…right?" asked Axel shakily.

"I don't know. He did get annoying at times. Sometimes I just wanted to punch him straight in the face…hey, are you okay?"

Axel was trembling so much that he nearly fell over.

"You-you know he was my best friend, r-right?" he asked.

"Yes, but I thought he was some kind of toy to you, you know, not very important. I could be wrong."

The hate feeling had just consumed his body. He grabbed Zexion by the neck and slammed him against the wall so that if he moved, a wave of pain would rush through his body. Axel leaned in closer so he was right next to his ear.

"Roxas is no toy, and he **never will be," **Axel whispered.

He pushed in on Zexion's neck and then threw him across the kitchen. He landed on the counter that had the stove on. His face landed exactly on the hot stove and he rolled over onto the white marble floor, screaming in obvious pain. It was just at this moment that Axel realized what he had done. He ran over there as fast as he could, barely noticing that Marluxia had popped up behind him. Zexion was clutching his face, exactly over his right eye. Axel attempted to pry Zexion's surprisingly strong hand away from his face, but without success.

"What did I do!" yelled Axel frantically. "I didn't mean it, whatever it was!"

He lifted Zexion up and embraced him.

"Calm down!" he said softly. "Please calm down."

"Why do you hate me?" asked Zexion through tears. "I can smell it in you."

"I don't hate you," said Axel. "I just take out my anger on you for some reason, that's all. I would do it on somebody else if anyone else was around."

"If Roxas were around…would you?"

That was a really good question. Would he do that if Roxas were around? He would have to really think into it to give Zexion an honest answer.

"I-I don't know…" he trailed off.

"See? You do hate me."

"Zexion, I…"

"Please let go of me, you faggot."

Axel had enough. Trying not to get angry again, he put Zexion on the ground as gently as he could.

"There," he said. "Are you happy?"

"No," answered Zexion. "I've got a damn migraine because of you, and now my face has burns all across it. If I ever see you even near me again, I'm going to make you wish you had never been born. And to answer your previous question, I would've hurt Roxas if I had the chance."

He took whatever energy he had left and teleported out of the room, leaving Axel standing there with extremely hurt feelings. He didn't notice that Marluxia had been standing there the entire time.

"Man, that was harsh," said Marly from behind him.

Axel turned around, teary-eyed and forlorn; hating the fact that flowerboy had seen and heard all of this.

"Why exactly are you here?" asked Axel.

"Well, I was coming down to get a muffin or two, but I didn't expect there'd be anyone fighting. Are you okay?"

Why the hell did he care?

"Why the hell do you care?" asked Axel suspiciously.

"Hey, that was mean of Zexy to do. I was talking about your pride, you know."

"Oh, well, my pride does kinda feel bad. Still, why do you care?"

Marluxia walked closer to Axel, almost a foot away.

"I care because, well, let me show you."

He pinned Axel against the wall and kissed him lightly. Once he pulled away, Axel almost gagged. (3)

"What the hell is wrong with you!" he yelled angrily, pushing Marluxia onto the ground and running away, trying to find a sink with antibacterial soap to decontaminate himself with.

Marluxia stood up and swore under his breath.

"I was so close," he muttered to himself.

He went over and grabbed a muffin out of the breadbasket, instantly realizing that it was a bran one. He threw it back into the basket angrily and went back off to his room.

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_(Roxas's POV)_

"Hey, come on, Roxas!" yelled his fat friend. (4)

"What?" asked Roxas.

"Come on! We're gonna miss the train!"

"Right! I'm coming!" yelled Roxas back.

He ran over to them, but accidentally tripped. He felt a hand grip his arm and lift him up. He was just about to thank his friend, but realized it wasn't his friend at all. It was some black hooded person he hadn't even met before. The person squeezed his arm more firmly and pulled Roxas toward him. He couldn't get away from this man's grip. He was too weak. It seemed like this man was trying to tell him something. He finally let go, and the next thing you knew he was gone. Just like that. He didn't even see it happen it was so fast.

"Are you coming, Roxas?" yelled the girl.

He instantly snapped back into reality.

"Um…yeah," he said, completely confused about what had just happened. "Did you see that guy who pulled me up?"

"You got up by yourself, Roxas," said the guy in army pants.

"I-I did?"

"Yes, of course you did. Are you crazy?"

"No! But I swear there was this guy who grabbed me-!"

"Well, whatever it was, you have to hurry it up!"

Roxas ran as fast as he could into the train station. His friends were already at the ticket counter. They were already buying tickets and everything. He reached into his pocket for his wallet, but soon discovered it wasn't there. He frantically searched around for it, but realized that it wasn't anywhere.

"That guy took my wallet!" he shouted.

"What?" asked the dude with the army pants.

"The guy who grabbed me-he stole my wallet!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. There was no guy that grabbed you. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm just fine. But that guy stole my wallet! I swear I'm not lying!"

"Whatever. I'll get your ticket then."

Suddenly the sound of a train leaving the station was heard. Their train had just left. The fat kid gave a frustrated sigh.

"Well, I guess we're not going to the clocktower today," said the girl.

"All because of Roxas and his imaginary friend," said the dude with the army pants. "Let's go home."

All three of Roxas's friends walked out of the train station, leaving Roxas behind in the dust. Roxas just stood there, not really knowing what to think. He felt more hurt than anything, really, just because of the fact that his friends didn't trust him enough to believe that this guy in a black coat had robbed him of his wallet. After a few minutes of thinking, the ticket booth behind him closed, and he figured it was time to go home. He walked out of the train station, not noticing the cloaked man behind him watching…

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_(Axel's POV)_

Today Axel didn't do much of anything to find Roxas. All he did was go to Twilight Town and manage to steal his wallet (because that's the kind of guy he is). He was angry that Roxas hadn't even recognized him, or not even notice him behind him at the train station. And his stupid "new friends" had hurt his feelings, which made Axel even angrier. He had only hurt Roxas's feelings once, and even then he didn't mean it. He would get his revenge somehow. When he went back into his room after this small excursion, he was thankful that Demyx wasn't in there, for he had to get some rest before tomorrow. Sora was coming tomorrow. Sora was the very person who had brought him Roxas, but the sad thing was that he had to try and eliminate him, which would also mean killing Roxas, considering that Roxas was part of Sora's heart.

He went and lay down on his bed, sinking into it gratefully. He nearly almost fell asleep a few minutes after he hit the mattress, but felt like he was being watched. He looked around (almost paranoid), and just happened to see Marly standing in the doorway. He quickly got off of his bed, just to make sure Marly didn't lay down with him.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly. "As you could see, I was trying to take a nap."

"Yes, I realized that," said Marluxia nonchalantly. "I was just coming in to tell you sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for kissing you this morning. I know it must've felt uncomfortable to you."

Axel suddenly remembered the events from earlier this morning.

"It's okay, but don't ever do it again."

"I won't, don't worry. I mean, I will if you want me to, but…"

"Yes, I get it. And don't get your hopes up. I would never kiss a guy."

"Right. Well, you can get back to your nap now. I'm sure you'll need it, considering that you're living with Demyx now."

"Mmmmhmm. You can get out now."

"Yeah, okay. I will."

He teleported out of Axel's room, looking somewhat…sad? Weird, thought Axel. There was something truly wrong with Marluxia. (AN: Yeah, for half the game I thought he was a girl). He went back over to his bed and finally fell asleep. He had many happy, yet sad dreams filled with his past times with Roxas and nightmares from when he first became an unknown. He slept peacefully for another two hours, until he felt like somebody was sitting on him. He opened his eyes, and sure enough, Demyx was sitting on his tummy.

"Well, somebody's a slacker," said Demyx. "What did you do today?"

"I slept and…I don't really remember the rest right now," said Axel with a yawn. "What'd you do?"

"I had to go to the Underworld. There's nothing much there, just a whole bunch of dead people and an angry pyro for a god."

"Did you see anybody important there?"

"Like I said, only a bunch of dead people and an angry pyro for a god."

Axel was starting to fell like he was being suffocated.

"Would you get offa me, Demyx? I can't really breathe."

"Oh, sure," he said, getting off. "I only did that to wake you up."

"Good job. It really worked well."

He lifted himself up casually and stretched his arms. He didn't feel tired anymore.

"Have a good nap?" asked Demyx.

"Yep," Axel said with another yawn.

"Good. I guess that means we can go down to dinner now."

"Dinner? Is it already that late?"

"Yeah, it's 6:00. Plus, my tummy's rumbling. I need some fuel."

"Whatever. I'll go down with you."

He got up and teleported downstairs with Demyx.

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_(In the Kitchen)_

"I wonder what's for dinner tonight," said Demyx excitedly. He was practically dancing up and down.

"Can you, like, act mature for at least five minutes, or is that just impossible for you?" asked Axel.

"I'd do it for a dollar."

"Fine. Act mature for at least five minutes and I'll give you a dollar."

"Sweet! When should I start?"

"How about now?"

"Okay. Here goes."

He stood up straight and tall and got rid of his dorky grin. He grabbed two plates from the cupboard and gave one to Axel. Then he went into the fridge and grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper (AN: OH YEAH!). Still, without even smiling, he went to the stove where there was meatloaf cooking.

"So what's for dinner?" asked Axel as he walked over there.

"Meatloaf. Eeeeeeew. This place has crappier food than Deep Dive."

He took a rather small helping of it and sat down at the conveniently located table in the kitchen. Axel was too afraid that it might jump out and attack him, so he just went into the pantry and put some Pringles on his plate. He went and sat down next to Demyx, who was already almost throwing up his meatloaf.

"Do you know who cooked this stuff?" he asked.

"I think it was Marly," said Axel, putting a Pringle into his mouth.

"Oh, that explains everything."

He carefully took another bite of it with his fork, swearing he saw it move.

"You know what? I'm going to go get some Pringles."

"Good idea. Just make sure that stuff is totally decontaminated before you throw it into the garbage. It might eat everything in the trash and then grow."

"Can you light it on fire?"

"I don't know. It doesn't seem worthy enough."

"Whatever."

Demyx went and put it into the garbage disposal. He then went into the pantry with his plate decontaminated and everything. He rummaged in there for a while.

"OOOH! Cookies!" he yelled childishly. "Oh, wait. I didn't mean that, Axel! I was just excited. I mean, they're double fudge Oreos dipped in chocolate! So…IRRESISTABLE!"

"I'm not giving you a dollar," said Axel. "That was way too immature for my liking."

"But you must love cookies!"

He ate another Pringle.

"I might be able to care less."

Demyx came back out of the pantry holding the whole box of cookies as if it were the last good thing on earth. He went and sat back down next to Axel, shnarfing them down so fast that he barely had time to breathe.

"Okay! That's enough!" yelled Axel. "These are Zexion's and you know how he gets when people take his stuff!"

"Oh yeah. But can I have one more?"

"You know, I am really disappointed in you."

"Why?" Demyx asked with a mouthful of delicious chocolate covered Oreos.

"Because you couldn't even be mature for _one _minute. It might be a miracle if you could do it for five."

"But you insulted cookies!" yelled Demyx. "I had to react somehow!"

"Well, maybe you should learn to not react at all."

He crammed the last Pringle into his mouth and went over to the sink to wash his plate off. Little did he know that Demyx was shoving the last of Zexion's precious cookies into his mouth. Once he was done rinsing it off, he turned around to face Demyx.

"I'm going to go up to my room, so you can sit here in your own little happy world if you want to, or whatever," he said.

"Well, actually, I'm done, so I guess I'll go up with you and get ready for bed."

He got up and teleported into Axel's room, shortly followed by Axel.

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_(Later)_

Axel was lying down on the floor, covered by a blanket and with his head rested on some extra pillows. Sadly, his plan for overthrowing Demyx had failed. Demyx had won, and now he had his bed, which would have to be decontaminated the next morning. Demyx came out of the bathroom with his AC/DC pajamas and plopped down on Axel's bed.

"Your bed is really comfy, Axy," said Demyx with his head in the pillow. "Thanks for letting me have it tonight."

"Well, actually, you argued with me enough for me to give it up to you," said Axel.

"Yeah, but either way, it's really comfy."

There was a long moment of silence. Axel was about to drift off to sleep when…

"Hey, Axy?"

He gave a frustrated sigh.

"Yes, Demyx?"

"Do you wanna play a game?"

"No."

"Well, you're a party pooper. Why don't we talk about people behind their backs? You know, like gossip or whatever."

"That's what _girls _do at sleepovers," said Axel. "Are you a girl?"

"Of course not! Do I look like one?"

"Well, maybe…"

Before he could even blink, Demyx had tackled him with surprising strength.

"Hey! I was just kidding!" said Axel. "I didn't mean it!"

"I know!" laughed Demyx. "I just felt like tackling you!"

"Why you little-!"

Axel had re-tackled Demyx and was now on top of him, just in time for Marluxia to walk in. Both Axel and Demyx looked at the pink-crazed flowerboy.

"Um, am I interrupting anything, or…," Marluxia began.

Looking at his current position, Axel shuddered to think what Marly was thinking. He immediately pushed himself off of Demyx, almost red in the face.

"You pervert!" he yelled.

"What?" asked Demyx. "I don't get it."

"That's good," said Axel. "What do you want, Marluxia?"

"Oh. I was just ordered by the Superior to check up on you two, that's all."

"Then how come nobody came to check up on us last night?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?"

"Because it's not worth it."

"I am in a pickle," said Demyx. "What are we talking about?"

"None of your business," said Axel.

"So is everything okay in here?" asked Marluxia.

"Yes," chorused Demyx and Axel.

"Good. Now I can leave this un-pinked room."

He walked out of the room rather weirdly. Demyx got back up on Axel's bed and Axel rearranged his blankets and pillows.

"So is there nothing you want to do?" asked Demyx.

"I want to sleep," said Axel.

"But sleeping is no fun. You even said it yourself. We're having a sleepover."

"No I didn't. When was that?"

"Ahem. In your own words: 'That's what _girls _do at sleepovers'. There you go. You called this a sleepover."

"But I was just referring to what girls do at sleepovers, not that we were actually having one."

"Oh. But we should have some fun anyways, right? After all, it is my last night here."

"Fine. What do you want to do?" asked Axel with a sigh.

"I want to…say evil things about people behind their backs."

"Okay. You go first."

"Sweet!" said Demyx. "Alright…Vexen has botox."

"Larxene's a guy."

"Marluxia's gay."

"I already knew that one. Um…Lexaeus has man boobs."

"Xemnas will get all wrinkly in old age because he goes to tanning salons."

"Saix is Legolas's lost brother."

"Axel is an anorexic moomba."

"Um, helloo?" I'm right here, ya know."

"Oops. My bad."

"How about this one? Demyx is on crack."

"Hey! That was an insult!"

"No. Really?"

"Grrrrr. Luxord thinks he's cool because he's got, like, twelve earrings on one ear."

"Xigbar's a hippie."

"Roxas is a midget."

Axel actually laughed.

"Xaldin needs to shave his sideburns. They look like lambchops."

"Zexion is a sissy."

So they went on for at least thirty more minutes talking about people evilly behind their backs, and spent at least ten minutes of it on Marluxia. Finally, after they thought they were going to blow up because they were laughing so much, they stopped.

"Wow," said Axel. "I had no idea I could have fun with a total dork like you."

"Ditto," said Demyx.

"Are you getting tired at all?"

"Nope. You?"

"Not really. I guess I just said I was tired as an excuse to not talk to you. Now that I'm having fun, I guess I take that back."

"Well, that's a major plot twist."

"Plot twist?" asked Axel. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing. Hey, do you want to see my most prized possession?"

"What is it?"

"It's something I stole from Space Paranoids. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Whoa. It's gotta be awesome."

Demyx got up out of Axel's bed and rummaged in his bag. He finally pulled out a device that was about as big as a deck of cards. It was black and had a circular thing on it, along with a small screen. There was a long wire connected to it, which at the end branched out and ended with two little half circles.

"It-it looks almost holy," said Axel. "What is it?"

"It's called an iPod," said Demyx, holding it up proudly.

"Wow. Even the name sounds awesome. What does it do?"

"I'll show you. Put these in your ears."

He handed Axel the two half circles. Axel crammed them into his ears.

"Now what do I do?" asked Axel.

"Sit back and listen," answered Demyx.

"Cool."

Suddenly there was a sound that sounded somewhat… depressed maybe?

"What is this?" asked Axel.

"Shhhh. It's my favorite song."

Axel listened for a while longer until what sounded like a young man singing to the music came up. After a while, he really started to like this. He had never really listened to music before, so this was practically a first for him. When the song was over he took the semi-circles out of his ears.

"I think I'm going to steal one of those for myself," he said. "What was that?"

"That, my friend, was Green Day," said Demyx.

"Cool."

And with that said, Demyx put his holy iPod back into his bag and they both went to sleep with happy little dreams in their heads…

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1. Buttocks is such a funny word. Myes…

2. Heh heh. **_Disgruntled. _**You just gotta love that word.

3. Sorry everybody. My mind is dysfunctional. I am slowly turning to the dark side.

4. I already told you guys, I don't know the dude's friend's names!

Well, that's probably the weirdest chapter I think I've ever typed in my life. Hope you enjoyed it!

**5 **more reviews and I'll type the next chapter

**10 **more reviews and I'll post it

**Whether it's good or bad…**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

P.S.- review!


	5. Roxas Remembers

Me: Hi. I really appreciate you people reviewing this story so much. I'm gonna try and make this chapter a little bit less weird than the last one. Sorry to all Marluxia fangirls (and boys). He was a bit OOC in the last chapter, at least I think so.

So let's get started.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. That pretty much covers it all.

Warnings: Well, I believe there will be some language, definitely some angst, probably violence, and um…well, I can't really think of anything else. Oh yes! There also will probably be some weird Axel/Marluxia stuff in this chapter.

And because I don't know how Zexion uses his power of Shadow, I'm only guessing what he does with it in this chapter. And **horsie890, **I kinda make Zexion the bad guy in this chapter. Sorry.

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Chapter Five: Roxas Remembers

Demyx was gone now. He had left at about four in the morning, surprisingly not waking Axel from his deep sleep. When Axel finally did wake up, it was about eight o' clock. He got up from the floor and went over to his bed, half expecting Demyx to still be in it, but he wasn't. It was neatly made, and on top of the black comforter was a small note that read:

_Dear Axel,_

_If you get confused about where I am right now, I've left and am now back at Deep Dive. And I hope it's okay if I used all of your shampoo, because I forgot to bring my own. And it is just now that I realize that I forgot my iPod, so I have to go back there sometime. Dang, I hate it when I forget stuff. Anyway, even though I really hate saying this, I had a really good time with you these past two days. Arrgh! Stupid pen ran out of ink! Oh wait, no it didn't…Yeah, so I guess I'll see you soon, unless you die or something._

_P.S. - Tell Zexy I'm sorry about his cookies._

_Peace out!_

Axel laughed inwardly. He found it kinda interesting that Demyx would actually write his thoughts down along with the note. He took the little piece of paper and burnt it to a tiny crisp. Why recycle when you can burn?

He went into his bathroom and didn't even bother taking a shower, first of all because he didn't have any shampoo, and second of all because he just felt lazy today. He put his "work clothes" on and brushed his teeth, slowly but surely. Once he was all spiffy looking, he warped down to the kitchen, where Zexion was looking in the pantry for something.

"Someone stole my cookies!" came Zexion's muffled voice from inside the pantry.

"Demyx says he's sorry," piped up Axel.

Zexion turned off the light and stepped out of the pantry with a somewhat angry look on his face.

"I thought I smelled you," he said. "What do you mean by that?"

"Demyx ate all of your cookies," said Axel.

"Oh. Why are you talking to me?"

"You asked me a question, that's why. You _did _want me to respond, didn't you?"

"Yes and no. It all depended on the answer."

"Are you okay? You seem angry or something. Did something happen that…?"

"You happened," cut in Zexion. "That's the problem. You." He glared at Axel.

Axel suddenly remembered what happened yesterday.

"Did you really mean what you said yesterday?" he asked.

"What? You mean the fact that I would make your life a living hell if you ever came within even fifty feet of me?"

"Yes, that."

"Yes, I did. You're lucky you're approximately fifty five feet away from me right now, otherwise you'd be having some terrible, terrible headaches."

"What is it exactly that you do around here?" asked Axel. "I mean, you never do much of anything when it comes to fighting."

"Step five feet forward and you'll see."

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because I'd rather let you see."

"Then why won't you let me see without me getting hurt?"

"Because I feel I don't have to use my "powers" unless I have a need to."

"Hmmmm. That's interesting. So have you ever showed anyone your "powers", or not?"

"Why do you even care?"

"Because I'm just like that."

Zexion was beginning to get annoyed.

"Do you really want to know what I do around here?"

"Yes. I thought I've been making that clear for the past minute."

"Fine, then," said Zexion with an evil little smirk. "_I'll show you."_

"Wait, Zex. I didn't want you show me, I…"

He was suddenly hit with a wave of euphoria, unlike any happiness he had never known. He wasn't in Castle Oblivion any longer. It was someplace he had never been before. All of the happiest memories he had ever known came back to him all at once, dancing around in his head like clouds. He felt like he was floating on a sea of color, just laying down and relaxing, not caring about anything whatsoever. But then the color turned into black and white, warmth turned to cold, happy memories turned to ones of tragedy and horror. He felt like he was falling, running away from an unknown fear that he had never known before. Everything good he had ever known was turning to bad, the people and things he had loved were all dying and turning distorted in a way he could never imagine. He suddenly felt himself in total darkness and despair, dying in a way that a person normally wouldn't. His emotions were being torn away from him, leaving only sadness and darkness. There was no more laughter, there was no more warmth, and there was no more Roxas. He started crying, wanting this nightmare to end right now, even if it meant stopping his own life… (1)

…When suddenly he found himself weeping on the cold marble floor of Castle Oblivion, sweating and whimpering in a different kind of pain. He looked around to see Zexion standing above him, smiling as evilly as he was before he had this weird hallucination.

"Wh-what was that?" he asked shakily.

"That was the darkness of your mind," answered Zexion. "It's hard to imagine that a person like you could imagine such horrible things, and yet, that is why I took you there. To get a taste of your own medicine."

"I-I thought of that?"

"In a way, yes. In most ways, no. It was partly created by me. It was quite easy to read your mind, actually. Much easier than Marluxia…"

"But why did that hurt?" Axel butted in.

"Because that was your good memories being crushed. The only pain you feel is that of your soul. It would be your heart, but you obviously don't have one. However, that was only a small fragment of the pain I could've caused you. It could've been much worse, actually. My head just hurts too much right now to have been able to do that without hurting myself."

"But how do you know what it feels like? And what it is?"

"I see what my victims see, in a way. I don't actually _feel _the pain, but when I see the look on one of my victim's faces, I can determine how much it hurts." (2)

"But don't you feel any sympathy for the person getting hurt?"

"No. If I did, I would be dead by now. I use my "powers" mainly for defense. If I could feel sympathy, then I would stop the attack immediately."

"So no wonder you are always expressionless."

He tried to pick himself up, but soon realized that Zexion really took more out of him than he thought.

"Would you at least have enough sympathy for me to help me up?" asked Axel.

Zexion thought about it. After he had obviously made up his mind, he walked over to where Axel was laying down and knelt down.

"Whatever," he said, extending a hand out to grasp Axel's.

"Thank you," said Axel wearily, using Zexion's weight to help pull himself up.

"You're absolutely not welcome," said Zexion. "And don't ever expect that again."

"I know," said Axel, smiling. To his surprise, Zexion managed a small sliver of a smile.

Axel turned around and limped to the bread basket. Zexion then turned around and headed for the door, but stopped almost a foot away.

"Axel…?"

Axel turned around with a blueberry muffin in his hand.

"Yes?"

"You may have some really bad nightmares tonight," said Zexion. "It's just a side effect. You'll be over it in a few days maybe."

"Gee, thanks," said Axel sarcastically, taking a bite of his muffin.

And with that said, Zexion walked out of the room, not even turning around again and saying sorry. Axel continued to eat his muffin.

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_(Roxas's POV)_

Roxas had never been to this part of Twilight Town before. Instead of its regular, homey feeling, it was computerized and modern. He walked around this new place aimlessly, just taking in the new things his eyes had never seen before. Suddenly a strong feeling from his mind told him to go back to his house and leave this place. After all, it was about midnight. He was just about turn around when a whole bunch of Dusks appeared behind him. He instantly whipped out his Keyblade and whacked the stuffing out of the annoying little things. Once he thought it was over, he was proven wrong. Behind him paced the man he had so many odd dreams about…

…Axel.

He looked almost angry, pacing back and forth like that. Or was he in deep concentration? Roxas couldn't tell.

"It's nice to see you again, Roxas," said the red head.

He stopped pacing and faced him, looking him straight in the eye.

"Do you remember me?" he asked in an almost whisper.

Roxas didn't dare answer him.

"I'm sure you don't…," his voice was almost inaudible.

Suddenly Roxas found himself in a giant ring of fire.

"YOU BETRAYED ME!" yelled Axel angrily.

Roxas started panicking. This fight might be dangerous. Axel stretched his arms out to the side, and in an extremely awesome way, summoned his two chakrams to his side. Immediately after that, Roxas called upon his two Keyblades: Oblivion and Oathkeeper.

"Two?" asked Axel, obviously confused.

Suddenly the ground turned so hot it nearly melted off the rubber from Roxas's shoes. He looked down and saw that the ground was practically lava. He charged forward and whacked at Axel, only two have two flaming chakrams thrown at him. He tried running around, but the ground was so hot that it was almost impossible for him to run. He did his best at whacking Axel to death, and finally the ground turned back to concrete. He took this to his advantage and practically killed Axel (which took very long, considering that he had almost ten bars of health). Axel stood there, panting, looking like he was going to fall over.

Suddenly something came over him that he couldn't quite explain. He was having about a million flashbacks all at once, all of him and this red-haired enigma playing together and having fun together. But the strangest thing was that he was wearing the same type of cloak as Axel was, and at least ten other people he had never seen before were there, all wearing the same outfit. Only a few of them had their hoods down, including himself and Axel. They all were sitting in white chairs and everyone was quiet. Then something happened that he hadn't expected. There he was, in a rainy city, walking away from Axel. Axel was begging him to come back, but he insisted on finding out something. Was that something about the other side of his heart? He couldn't tell. The memory was too short. But one thing was clear: he used to be best friends with Axel, and now Axel wanted him back.

"Axel," he said along with caring eyes.

"You remember, don't you?" he asked.

"Yes."

All of a sudden a dark, purplish mist formed around Axel.

"I wish I could talk to you more," he said. "But you just took it out of me. I guess I'll see you later, Roxas."

"Axel…"

The mist formed all around him and he was gone. Roxas walked over to where his friend once stood and smiled.

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_(Axel's POV)_

Axel was beat. It was kinda sad that he got beaten by someone half his age, but whatever. No hard feelings, right? He plopped down lazily on his bed and almost fell asleep when…

"Hey Axel," said a voice from behind him.

Axel forced himself to pick his head up and see who it was. There was Marluxia, standing in his doorway with his head cocked to one side.

"You sick or something?" he asked.

"No, I just got the crap beaten out of me," he answered. "Why do you ask?"

Before he knew it, Marluxia was sitting down on his bed.

"Oh, I was just wondering."

Marly scooted closer to Axel.

"So why are you in here, Marly?" asked Axel.

"Well, I just had to tell you that you have a job to do."

"What job would that be?"

"You have to fight the Keyblade Master, duh. He's on the first floor."

Axel bolted upright. He had totally forgotten that Sora was going to be here! This day was the only good day he had in a while. But just as soon as he bolted upright, Marluxia pushed him back into a laying down position.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You're tired. You need your rest."

"But Sora…"

"Sora will wait. You can meet up with him on the second floor."

"But I want to see him now!"

Marluxia placed his finger on Axel's lips to quiet him.

"You will see him, I promise," said Marluxia in an almost-whisper.

Axel was too freaked out to talk. Here he was in a laying-down position, with Marluxia laying down next to him, way too close for comfort. And what made things even worse was that he was way too tired to do much of anything right now, giving Marluxia the upper hand.

"Do you even know how beautiful you are?" he asked, staring into Axel's frightened green eyes.

Axel shook his head and started squirming. But because Marluxia was much stronger than him right now, he was pinned down onto the bed and had been forced to stop squirming.

"You shouldn't be so frightened, Axel," said Marluxia. "You might actually like this."

Axel felt like he wanted to scream like a little girl. Marluxia was now sitting on his stomach and was holding him down by the shoulders. This had to be a nightmare. Before he knew it, Marluxia leaned down and started kissing him wildly; ignoring the fact that Axel needed air. He soon figured out that it was hopeless to put up a fight and gave in to Marluxia, actually kissing him back. Marluxia slipped his tongue into Axel's mouth, earning a small moan from Axel. Then all of a sudden he pulled away, leaving a whimpering Axel still lying down on the bed.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" asked Marly.

"It wasn't the best thing ever," answered Axel. "The least you could do was let me breathe."

Marluxia lay down upon Axel.

"Would you want to do that again?" he asked, putting his hand on Axel's cheek.

"I don't know. Since when is it your right to come into my room and start making out with me whenever you want?"

"I was just testing you. I really want you to like me."

"If you want me to like you, then you should leave me alone. That would make me really happy."

He kissed Axel again.

"I meant that I want you to like me in the way that a girl would like a boy."

"But we're both guys. Unless you're not one, which I could understand…"

"I am. Don't make a big fuss about it."

Marluxia moved both of his hands to each side of Axel's face and kissed him again. Axel relaxed and kissed back. But just as soon as he relaxed, something started poking him hard on the right shoulder. Both of Marluxia's hands were on the sides of his face, so it couldn't be him. He opened his eyes and Marluxia was standing above him with his finger still on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Of course not! You just tried to make out with me, fag!"

"I don't know what you are talking about, Axel. You've been asleep for the past hour! When I came in here, you were tossing and turning and sweating. I just woke you up. What happened?"

"I just told you! You tried to make out with me! You were straddling my tummy and then you started kissing me against my will!"

"Axel, I just got in here two minutes ago. You must've been hallucinating."

Axel thought of only one thing when Marluxia said that. Zexion. He must've been playing with his mind again.

"Thanks Marly," he said as he got up from his bed. "I really appreciate the help."

"Um, yeah, no problem," said Marluxia scratching his head.

Axel raced out of his room and patted a very confused Marluxia on the back on the way out.

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_(Roxas's POV)_

Roxas walked into the alleyway where his friends were usually waiting for him. His friends were there, happily telling jokes and laughing. He walked into the alleyway right behind Heyner.

"Hey guys!" he said. "Sorry everything took so long. I kinda slept in this morning."

They continued talking and laughing, totally ignoring him.

"Um, hello? Did you just hear me?"

They ignored him once more.

He walked over and tapped Hayner on the shoulder. His finger went right through him! All of a sudden Hayner ran backwards and passed right through him. Pence and Olette followed behind him, not even noticing he was ever there. Roxas stood there flabbergasted. Was this some kind of sick joke? He walked forward and picked up the picture that he and his friends always kept at their hideout. Pence was in it, Olette was in it, and Hayner was in it. He was nowhere to be seen. He put the picture back and walked back down the alleyway, feeling a mixture of anger and confusion.

Had his friends left him, or was this some kind of twisted nightmare?

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_(Axel's POV)_

Axel practically stormed down the hall that eventually led into Zexion's room. Axel was ever so pissed. That was probably the worst thing that Zexion could ever do to him. No matter what the cost, he had to give Zex a proper punishment. Even if he dosed out more evil hallucinations, Zexion would pay. He stormed into Zexion's room, only to find Zexion dead asleep on his bed with a book open on his lap. Axel walked over and closed the book and put it on his nightstand, noticing the title. It was called The Inferno by Dante. That had always been one of Axel's favorite books.

He also noticed a small black book that was labeled "Keep Out" on his nightstand. Of course, being Axel, he picked it up and opened it. It was Zexion's diary! This was perfect revenge! He scanned the pages and searched for his name, hoping that Zexion wouldn't wake up. There was no sign of his name except for in the very beginning and the most recent entries. He read them as fast as he could, still afraid that Zexion would wake up and catch him. He stirred a few times, but nothing too serious. When he finally got to the last two day's worth of entries, he figured out that it was all about him. Zexion's small handwriting was hard to read, so he had to slow down a bit.

_March 27, 1315._

_A few days ago, when torturing Axel with his own memories, I discovered something that did not belong. I didn't know what the heck it was at first, but while scanning his mind while he was asleep, I found out everything about his past. _(Axel's eyes widened while he was reading this) _Believe it or not, we used to be best friends. I was a lab assistant and he was a general in the Radiant Garden army. Apparently we had been best friends since we were three. We were both the same age and we saw each other everyday. When I died, he was the only person in that whole world who wept for my death. I had no funeral, but I would've if he had enough munny. Seeing him cry over me made me cry too, strangely. I wonder why we aren't friends now. What is worse: death or not being remembered?_

_March 28, 1315._

_It seems that because we forgot everything about our previous lives, we forgot what good friends we were. I am both sad and angry at myself for not ever trying to befriend Axel, and I am sad that we're all doomed to die in a few days. I think that his name used to be Lea. I know that mine used to be Ienzo. Ienzo and Lea. Sounds totally weird, I know, but I believe that's what it used to be like. This also brings me to another question: shall I tell him all that I've figured out, or just bottle it up inside myself? He might think I'm lying, or he might not. I could show him, but we both looked almost nothing like we do now in the previous life. I have to decide quickly, for I have had visions lately of everybody's deaths, including mine. Everything is so confusing now. I don't have much time to think upon it either, so what do I do?_

Axel put the book down and looked at Zexion, who was just waking up, much to his despise. Zexion sat up and looked at him. Axel looked back.

"I thought I smelled you," he said. "What did I say about personal space?"

"I know what you said," said Axel. "And I'm sorry. I'll get out now."

"Oh no you won't. I know what you just did. You looked in my diary, didn't you?"

Axel sat down on Zexion's bed and embraced the blue-haired man. Surprisingly, Zexion embraced him back. He felt warm tears slide down his neck from Zexion. He had made Zexion cry. Axel had probablynever felt worse in his entire life.

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(1) Kinda makes him sound like he's on marijuana, from what I hear.

(2) Ha. He calls them victims. Don't know why I made him do that.

I know I ended that on a short note, but my parents are begging me to go to bed now, so I gotta hurry up now.

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	6. Zexion's Favor

Me: Hey, I just beat Kh2 yesterday so I know all the spoilers. Just a warning.

Warnings: Um, I'm thinking some language and violence (as usual) and perhaps some AxelZexion stuff. I'm still on the verge of deciding. Also, I know that I won't be able to get the dialogue right for the part where Axel meets Sora for the first time in Chain of Memories. So you can flame me if you want. I don't care.

Disclaimer: Everything Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix, and Final Fantasy related isn't mine.

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Chapter 6: Zexion's Favor

Axel sat on Zexion's bed, feeling extremely guilty for ignoring Zexion all this time. Even if he didn't know they were friends in the previous life, he still felt guilty for not being there when Zexion needed him. The redhead looked down at the smaller blue-haired man, who had stopped crying and had his face buried in his neck. Axel patted Zexion's back and rested his head on the top of his.

"I'm sorry," he said to Zexion with a slightly muffled voice. "I wish I could've known. Now we're all going to die."

"I didn't believe it at first," answered Zexion. "But I have found proof that my hypothesis is true. Can I show you something?"

"What is it?"

"You'll see. I'm sure you have one too."

Zexion unwrapped his arms from around Axel and lifted his left leg up so it was resting on his bed. He then unzipped the boot on his foot and took his sock off. Axel didn't know what the heck was going on.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Look closely at the bottom of my heel. There's something tattooed onto it."

Axel lifted Zex's foot up and glanced at his heel. At first, he couldn't quite make out what it said there, but soon he could see it clearly. In extremely tiny letters, he could see one word: _Lea._

"Lea?" Axel asked, directing his attention to Zexion's navy blue eye. "That was my old name, according to you. Why is that still there? Didn't everything from our previous lives disappear because we weren't supposed to remember?"

"Apparently not," said Zexion. "Do you see the bottom of your foot every so often?"

"No. I'm too busy to care."

"Can I see?"

"Yes."

Axel was about to take his shoe off when Zexion sprang forward and reached it before he did. Zexion took it off and grabbed his foot. He lifted it up ever-so-delicately and examined it.

"Would you look at that," he said. "That's amazing."

"What is it?" asked Axel.

Zexion laughed quietly. "You can see for yourself."

Zexion let go of Axel's foot and Axel moved his leg towards his face. At the bottom of his heel, in tiny letters, said one thing: _Ienzo._

"I wonder why that didn't disappear when I became an unknown," he said. "After all, we can't look too much like our old selves, right?"

"You might recognize yourself," said Zexion. "All that's really different is the hair."

They both sat in silence for a while and Axel put his boot back on.

"Have I always had these marks under my eyes?" asked Axel, breaking the silence.

"No. I don't know why you got them."

"Oh. So what did I look like?"

"Well, you had the same facial features-except for your tattoos under your eyes-and your hair was straight, black and long. You were skinny like you are now and you still were obsessed with fire. When I first saw you, I thought you were some kind of vampire."

Axel actually laughed.

"So if I looked scary, then you've had to be a monster," he said.

"Nope. I looked almost exactly like you," said Zexion. "I had the same facial features and my hair was straight, black, and kind of like it is now. Instead of it all being shoved over to one side of my face, it was just covering my eyes slightly."

"And our eyes were the same?"

"Yes, sadly."

"Why do you say that?" asked Axel.

"Because one of my eyes looks weird. I think that's one of the reasons we became friends in the previous life."

"Because your eye looked weird?"

"No, because you didn't care what my eye looked like. You liked me for who I was."

"Well, that was nice of me. Would I care what it looked like now?"

"I dunno. Would you like to find out?"

"Yes, I guess."

Zexion crawled over towards Axel and moved his face toward his, only about two inches away.

"Um, Zex? There's really no need to be so close," said Axel.

"For this, it is a need," he said. "Push my hair back out of my eye."

Axel did as he was told and pushed Zexion's hair back, making it fall down and hang limply around his shoulders. To his surprise, Zexion's eye looked exactly like a fireball. It was orange in the middle and was almost neon red that danced around the outside like a flame. There were small golden speckles in the center, which shone brightly as light passed through them. Axel sat there with his eyes wide open, not knowing what to believe.

"You hate it, don't you?"

Axel looked away from his eye.

"You're kidding, right? How could I? It reminds me so much of…fire. Personally, I think it's beautiful."

Zexion turned a little pink in the face.

"Thanks," he said. "I'm sure anybody else I might show it to wouldn't say that."

"It's only because I love fire. I do find it very interesting."

All of a sudden Zexion sprang forward and pecked him on the lips. For some reason, it made him feel warm.

"Sorry," he said, turning his face away from the redhead's.

"For what?" he asked.

Zexion turned his head back towards Axel.

"For kissing you like that. I don't know why I did it."

Axel scooted closer to Zexion.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Why would you think that?" asked Zexion.

"Because the Zexion I know would never even dream of doing that. Are you okay?"

Zexion paused and looked away for a moment.

"No…I'm not. I've been having these weird thoughts lately. I get so cold at night and I hardly ever catch even an hour's worth of sleep. There's something weird going on with me, I know it. Most of the dreams I have are during the day."

"So what so you think is wrong?"

Zexion leaned over onto Axel.

"I…I think I'm remembering what it used to be like. You know, in the previous life. But all I remember is our friendship, nothing else. And whenever I am around you, I get this weird warm feeling."

Axel stroked Zexion's head that was resting on his shoulder.

"What do you see that is about me?" asked Axel.

Zexion moved his head slightly and brought it closer to the crook of Axel's neck.

"Well, no matter what…we were always together. We ate together, played together, slept together, and even lived together. I don't know what it is."

He lifted his head up and looked deep into Axel's neon green eyes.

"I'm starting to like you, I think," he said. "Or maybe, I'm starting to like you again, according to what I'm seeing."

Axel was almost dumbfounded. Zexion _never _acted like this. This was probably some great setup that Zexion had planned for him, hoping to trick him like this.

"I don't believe you, Zexion. I know you, and this is not the you that I know. This is a setup of yours, so you can come out of hiding and ridicule me all you want. I bet you even expected to have me read that diary entry of yours."

Zexion looked at Axel and ran his hand along the skinny man's neck.

"I'm not lying," he said. "This is real. I wouldn't ever have hurt you like this, even if I were trying to set you up. But I'm not."

Axel swatted Zexion's hand off of his neck.

"Just shut up. You know I hate you."

Zexion put his head down and turned away from Axel.

"I thought you said you didn't hate me when you hurt me that second time," he said quietly.

"Well, I lied."

Zexion brought his head up and kissed him, this time more than a peck. It made Axel feel weird in a way. Not like it was wrong, but maybe it was a feeling of deja vu.

"In case you wanted to know, I don't hate you at all," he said, pulling away. Axel could see some of the tears forming in his eyes. "The only thing I hate about you is that you hate me."

His watery eyes overfilled and a straight line of salty water slid down his cheek. He remained silent, looking into the redhead's eyes. It almost seemed like he wanted some kind of response from Axel. Axel sat there and looked at him, not knowing what to say.

"I-I think I have to go now," said Axel, standing up from the bed. "Sora awaits."

Zexion turned his head down once more.

"Will you come back once you're done?" asked Zexion almost inaudibly. "I need to ask you something that is very important."

Axel hesitated a moment as he walked toward the door.

"Um…yeah. I will."

And with that said, he walked out of Zexion's room, leaving an even more depressed Zexion on the bed with his face buried in his favorite pillow.

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Axel walked through the halls of Castle Oblivion, almost tasting the sensation of seeing his friend again. Or at least, part of his friend. Right now Xemnas was probably screwing the poor kid's head up with his constant monologues on darkness and the foolishness of such a young Keyblade Master. He figured he should teleport there instead of walk, so he did. As predicted, Xemnas was standing in front of Sora with his hood down, obviously rambling on about losing memories and such.

"Boo," said Axel, appearing all smart-alecky.

"I suppose _you _would like to deal with him, then?" asked the hooded Xemnas.

"I got bored with you, hogging the hero," said Axel, catching the card Xemnas threw at him. Personally, he thought these cards were a waste of everything. They defeated the whole purpose of actually thinking what attack you wanted to use and were only used in battle for such lunatics as Luxord. He paid attention to his current situation, noticing that Sora was eyeing him very suspiciously. Ah yes, he remembered that look from Roxas when he stole his Oblivion Keychain. Those were the good old days.

"Who are you?" asked Sora.

"The name's Axel. Commit it to memory."

Sora stood there and looked like he was thinking about something.

"Are there more of you?" he asked.

"Maybe," said Axel. "Or maybe not."

"That's not a very good answer."

Well duh, thought Axel. At least Roxas didn't inherit this kid's talent for stating the obvious.

"You know, you are probably the worst Keyblade Master I have seen in all my years," said Axel. "I think that stupid key picked a dud this time. You're not half as great as your beloved King Mickey."

"You know where he is?" asked Donald.

"Yes, but I'm not telling. That would just make it too easy for you to find him."

Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"Tell us where he is!" he yelled.

"Well aren't we grumpy today?" asked Axel.

He held his arms out to the side and summoned his totally cool chakrams. If this kid wanted a fight, he would get one. Of course, Axel wasn't aiming to kill him, but he guessed this would just be a test. After all, if he died, Roxas would too. He found it unfair that if Roxas died, Sora wouldn't. But whatever. Now it was time to focus on the battle.

Sora put up a good fight. Axel could've beaten him easily, but under the circumstances, he wouldn't have wanted to. Roxas's life was too much of a cost.

"You're pretty good," said Axel. "I wouldn't mind sparring again sometime."

"Now that I've beaten you, will you tell me where King Mickey is?" asked Sora.

"Nah. You can figure it out on your own."

And with that said, he teleported outta there. Sora stood there dumbfounded (as usual) and tried to figure everything out.

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Sora and co. walked up the white stairs to the next floor of Castle Oblivion. Donald had reassured Sora that if anybody like Axel ever showed up again, he would deal with them. And as if on cue, Axel popped out of nowhere at the top of the stairs. Sora drew the Keyblade.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Axel, putting his hand up in protest. "I just came here to tell you guys something, but if you don't want to listen…"

Sora dismissed his weapon.

"What is it?" he asked, still unsure if Donald would jump out from behind him and attack this guy.

"The further you go into this castle, the more you forget. And when you wake up, you may no longer be you," said Axel in a serious tone.

"What does that mean?" asked Goofy.

"Figure it yourself," said Axel, poofing away.

"That guy is really annoying," said Donald. "C'mon. We'd better go."

Donald and Goofy walked up the flight of stairs while Sora stood pondering at the bottom. There was something weird about Axel that he didn't quite understand. It felt as if he had met him before…somewhere. After noticing that Donald was tapping his foot impatiently, he dismissed the idea and walked on up the flight of stairs.

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Well that was amusing. It almost felt as if his good friend Roxas was back. But he knew that would take a while before that would actually happen. He had teleported back into his room and was laying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling in obvious bliss. It felt like he was back in Deep Dive City, playing games with Roxas. Just being so close to his counterpart made him feel fully alive again. But he knew that wouldn't last long. He'd probably do something incredibly stupid and wind up getting himself killed before Roxas would ever think of coming back to him. And yet, all of this felt real.

He sat up and yawned, feeling strangely tired. Was it because Sora took all of it out of him when he fought him? Oh well. It only mattered to be close to him. He looked lazily around the room, noticing that his clock said 5:46. This day had gone by way too fast. He stood up and walked out of his room, remembering that he promised Zexion that he would return to his room after he got done with Sora.

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(_Zexion's PoV)_

For the past three hours he had been reading and staring up at the white ceiling. Like it really took three hours to deal with a stupid kid. Axel was probably stalling or something to avoid talking to him. He knew Axel was like that. And he smelled fear when he last talked to him. But what he had to ask Axel now was important. He wouldn't allow the red haired man to duck out on this one. For him, this was a matter of life or death. He put down his book that he had been reading and went to the door, going to walk to Axel's room. But as soon as he touched the handle, the door opened and whacked him in the face. He felt the marble break his nose and blood trickled down his cheek.

"Do you enjoy hurting me?" he asked, giving Axel an evil glare.

"I'm sorry!" said Axel, wiping some of the blood off of Zexion's face with his glove. "I just didn't expect you to be there. I'll get you some ice."

"No, don't. I'll be just fine. And anyways, I want to talk to you about something."

"Um, okay. But there's lots of blood pouring out your nose. Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Yes. I'm sure. All I really need to do is get a Kleenex and soak it all up."

"Alright. Whatever you say."

Axel closed the door and licked the blood off of his glove. Zexion went over and sat on his bed while Axel took some Kleenexes and handed them to Zexion.

"It's the least I could do," he said, handing them over to Zexion.

"Thanks," said Zexion, pressing one of them onto the middle of his nose where the blood was pouring out.

Axel sat down on his bed and faced Zexion.

"So what did you want to tell me?" he asked.

Zexion looked at him.

"Actually, I want to ask you something."

"What?"

"Well…I want you to kill me."

Axel glared at Zexion.

"Have you lost your mind!" he asked. "Why on earth would you want me to do that?"

"Because if you don't, I will live on after all of you without a purpose. I would have nobody to talk to, I would never see anybody again, and I would much prefer to die now than any other time. After all, we are going to die within a matter of half a year."

"Yeah, but you know I wouldn't be able to do that to you. I'm just starting to know you. And why can't you just commit suicide or something?"

"Because I'm too weak to do anything like that. And it would be impossible for me to kill myself. I am not suicidal, I'm just depressed. Please, Axel. I'm asking you this as a friend, not as some random person in the castle."

Axel locked his eyes with Zexion's.

"I don't think I'll be able to do that," he said. "I'm sorry."

He turned and got up to leave, but just as he stood up, Zexion grabbed his wrist. He turned around and saw the blue haired man looking up at him innocently.

"Could you at least stay with me tonight?" he asked. "I get so alone and cold."

"Um, I don't know," said Axel. "I guess. Where would I sleep?"

"In my bed."

"Then where would you sleep?"

"In my bed."

"But that's…"

"You don't have to if you don't want to. I was just asking you. It's the least you could do for me."

"Yeah. Okay, fine."

Axel went over to the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Zexion.

"I'm getting my stuff that I need. You know, like pajamas."

"Okay," said Zexion, lying down on the bed. "Just don't take too long."

"Alright."

Axel walked out of Zexion's room and down the hall to his room.

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Hello. I have inserted this temporary break in the story to say that I am sorry for not sticking to the whole plot here, but now everybody knows what happens to Roxas and Axel, so I'm just writing what happens in between. So yes, fatalfeline, there_ is_ plot progression here, even though the story is originally about Axel and Roxas. That is all I have to say. Now on with the story.

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Axel searched in his chest of drawers, looking for a good pair of pajamas. Usually, he just slept in a pair of boxers, but tonight he had to find something that wouldn't show too much of his skin. He finally found what he was looking for and went into his bathroom and started brushing his teeth. He started thinking that this wasn't such a good idea, judging that Zexion had kissed him the last time they talked. But it was a better alternative that killing him. Axel spit out the minty fresh toothpaste and rinsed his mouth out with water. He then put his PJ's on and teleported into Zexion's room.

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_(Zexion's PoV)_

Zexion was lying down on his bed, counting the little speckles on the ceiling (which is what he did most of the time when he had nothing to do). It had only been ten minutes since Axel had left to go get his PJ's. Zexion was hoping that he could convince Axel to do the favor he asked while he slept with him. After all, he didn't want to live on forever with no heart. He wanted to feel again, like he did in the previous life. But he knew that would never happen. He had seen visions of everybody dying and Kingdom Hearts exploding, which Xemnas had tried so hard to obtain. And he knew it was all hopeless from the beginning. The plan would've easily failed, and there was no guarantee that thirteen among those thousands of hearts would've belonged to them. The only people that really believed that it would work were Xemnas and Saïx.

Zexion had stopped counting the speckles now and was looking towards the door of his room, expecting it to open any second now. He all of a sudden remembered his nose that Axel had broken while opening the door, and realized that it hurt more than he thought it would. He touched the tip of it lightly, and even though it was only a soft touch, it sent a huge jolt of pain throughout him. His nose was probably his most important part of his body, judging that he could smell when people were coming or their emotions. Now he couldn't smell anything. He would have to see Vexen the next morning and have him take a look at it. Just then Axel appeared in front of his bed with a pair of black pajamas on. Both the top and bottom were long sleeved.

"Hey there," said Zexion, accidentally scratching his nose, cringing afterwards.

"Hey there," said Axel. "Are you sure your nose is okay? Because I can go down to the kitchen right now and get an ice pack out of the freezer for you."

"No, I'll be just fine. I'm just going to go to Vexen tomorrow and have him fix it."

"Okay."

Axel walked over to Zexion's bed and plopped down onto it. Zexion turned his head and glared at him.

"What?" asked Axel, quirking an eyebrow.

"I don't appreciate people just jumping onto my bed like that," said Zexion rather simply.

"I didn't jump. I plopped."

"Mmmhmm. Same difference."

"Well don't blame me. I had a very long day today and I'm very tired."

"So did I. Do you see me plopping down on my bed?"

"No. But you were already on it, so you wouldn't need to. And what did you do today that made you so tired?"

"I laid around and did nothing."

"Yeah, _really _tiring."

"Well it is. Having nothing to do all day long makes you think a lot, which tires out your brain."

"That's great, Zexion. So tell me why I'm here again?"

Zexion scooted over to where Axel was laying down.

"Because I get cold at night and I need someone to warm me up," he answered.

Axel turned his head around and looked at Zexion.

"You know, I think you're just going to try and convince me to do that favor you asked me to do earlier," he said.

"Maybe," said Zexion. "I might just want to be warm for one night of my useless life."

"Ah. Have you noticed that we're rambling on about random stuff that doesn't even really matter?"

"Yeah, I kinda have. I think I'll go get my jammies on now."

Axel quirked an eyebrow once again.

"You're _what_?"

"My jammies," said Zexion. "It's another word for pajamas."

"I know that. But what I don't get is that someone as sophisticated as you would use the word 'jammies' instead of pajamas."

"This conversation is going nowhere, you know that, right?"

"Yep."

Axel kicked off his boots and got under the covers.

"All the more reason for me to go to sleep," he said with a yawn. "Goodnight, Zexion."

Zexion got up off of his bed and went into the bathroom, pajamas in hand.

"I'm coming back, you know," he said. "You don't have to say goodnight yet."

"I know. But I'm just saying it just in case I fall asleep before you come out."

"Gotcha."

He walked into his bathroom and closed the door. Axel looked up at the ceiling, closing his eyes and letting his head sink into the pillow. It was totally obvious to any onlooker that he was in complete bliss. Maybe this is better than I thought it would be, he thought. He closed his eyes and within a short amount of time Zexion was out of his bathroom, wearing the same pajamas as Axel. He crawled into bed and cuddled up next to the red haired man and buried his face into his neck.

"You really are cold," said Axel.

"I know. And you really are warm."

Axel chuckled to himself and all of a sudden kissed the lilac haired man, without even thinking about it.

"Oops. I'm sorry," he said almost as quickly as he had done it.

Zexion stared at Axel for a moment and kissed him back.

"No big deal," he said, eyeing Axel in a weird way.

It was going to be a long night.

Almost eternal.

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Well, that's chapter six. Sorry if it's not on the original plotline or whatever, but I don't care. I hope you liked it.

Review if you like it, flame if you don't.

That's pretty much it.

Yeah.


	7. Back To The World That Never Was

Hey there! Welcome to the seventh chappie of Cold Fire, by yours truly.

I'm going to try and make it move a bit faster, just because I think that it's been moving really slowly lately. And I know it'll make fatalfeline happy.

Warnings: The usual. Although I don't really know what the usual is, the usual.

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Chapter Seven: Back to the World That Never Was

Almost a week had passed since that night with Zexion. Larxene was dead now, although Axel didn't care because he thought she was a stupid whore who flirted way too much for her own good. Vexen was dead, thanks to him, Lexaeus was dead- he was useless anyway just because he had way too much brawn for his brain. The only people that were left were Marluxia, himself, and Zexion. Zexion had presented a major problem for him. After that night, he had really taken a liking of the lilac haired man and was still contemplating on whether or not he should kill him, like he asked. And Marluxia's feeble attempts of taking control of the Keyblade was getting in the way too. The man actually _trusted _him, and Axel wasn't even wondering why. There was too much on his mind that revolved around Roxas right now, and he was trying to get his own plans into action.

He was going to have to visit Marly in the meeting room today, seeing as how he called him there. Oh how he dreaded every second with that flower loving freak. But it might be for his own good, he thought. If he could get an idea of what Marluxia was going to do about overthrowing the Organization, he might be able to stop him and get it over with. But for some strange reason, after turning the corner and walking into the meeting room, he couldn't help but wonder what Zexion was doing now. He was probably sitting quietly in his room, as usual. He stepped into the white room and walked over to where Marluxia was standing.

"You rang?" he asked in his usual tone.

Marluxia turned around and actually looked happy to see him, for once.

"Hello there Axel," he said. "I hadn't expected you to arrive so early."

"But I'm right on time," said Axel.

Marluxia smirked.

"I meant for you," he said, taking a seat on the bench that was below the awning that looked out into the greenish-purple abyss of the outside. "Come have a seat."

The lord of Castle Oblivion patted the part of the cushion that was next to him. Axel slowly walked over to it and sat down, looking Marluxia straight in the eye.

"Why did you call me here?" he asked.

Marluxia broke their eye contact.

"I've been meaning to ask you about Zexion," said Marluxia with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

Axel didn't like the sound of this.

"What about him?"

Marluxia locked his eyes with Axel's once more, almost as if he were looking at the very fiber of his being.

"You're hiding something from me that you know about him," said Marluxia, almost disappointed. "I thought you said you'd tell me everything you found out that had any relevance in it. So does that mean you lied to me?"

Axel nervously looked downwards. Surprisingly, he felt Marluxia's hand lift his chin back up so he was looking back at Marluxia's eyes.

"Look at me," said Marluxia. "I want you to tell me whatever it is you're hiding, and I'll know if you're lying."

Axel didn't know what to think. The blue haired man had become his replacement friend for Roxas, kind of. For some reason they really started liking each other, despite their huge differences. He might tell Marluxia about what Zexion had asked him to do, but there was another thing that would make Marly unbelievably mad, and Axel didn't want to even think about it.

"Answer me," said Marluxia sternly, as if he was Axel's master, and Axel was the dog.

"I-I can't…"

Tears were pricking in the back of his eyes. Why? Did this just please Marluxia to see him in so much pain?

Marluxia's hand that was so softly placed on his chin went down to his neck, gripping him tighter there.

"Tell me," Marluxia said, hinting in his voice that he did not want a 'no' for an answer.

"O-okay," said Axel, wanting to put his head down and look away from those blue eyes that just stared into his skull. "Zexion asked me to kill him-and I said no."

Marluxia let go of him.

"And why exactly did you say no?"

Axel hated him so much.

"I can't tell you that."

Marluxia sunk his nails into Axel's neck. (A/N: I know they're in gloves, but they're so sharp they penetrate the material. Yeah.) Axel flinched. Ignore him…ignore him…ignore him…

"You know I don't like it when you lie to me," said Marluxia. "And I'd like you a whole lot better if you didn't. Now tell me before I get angry."

Axel didn't even know why he came to this meeting. They were always such a complete waste of time. But this one wasn't even close to a normal, boring meeting. And anyways, he had plans to meet with Zexion today. He felt Marluxia loosen his hand and move it to the back of his head, digging it in his hair as he did. Axel looked up at flowerboy, unsure of what the hell it was Marluxia was doing. Marluxia came forward and rubbed his cheek with the red haired man, feeling him stiffen as he did so.

"Tell me," he whispered into Axel's ear.

"No!"

Marluxia sank his teeth into Axel's neck, drawing out fresh blood. The large tendons in his neck strained as Marluxia's teeth grated against them. The poor red haired man was writhing in agony, whimpering at the feeling of his own warm blood dripping down his neck and soaking into his cloak.

"Let go of me!" he yelled.

Marluxia grabbed a hold of his zipper and started pulling it down, revealing Axel's pale white skin underneath. Axel couldn't escape Marluxia's grasp.

"I said let go!"

But Marluxia didn't. Instead, he took his gloves off and sank his sharp nails into Axel's skin. The pain was excruciating.

And then Axel woke up. His skin was sticking to the silk covers of his bed and he was breathing very heavily. He looked at his clock. It was only five. He sank his head back into his pillow, afraid to go back to sleep again. He didn't want to have any more nightmares. This had been happening lately, all because Zexion had given him that strange hallucination. He wanted to go into Zexion's room, but he already knew that the lilac haired man was dead asleep at this hour and he did not like to be woken up before he did himself. He pulled the covers back and got out of bed, going over to the bathroom.

The first thing he noticed was what his present lack of sleep was doing to his face. His eyes were way too bloodshot; around the edges they were red and puffy. The skin under them was sagging and around his lips it was a slight tint of blue due to poor circulation.

He needed a hug.

He figured since he didn't want to go back to sleep again, he took a steaming hot shower and got dressed. He needed some food so he went downstairs, surprised to find Zexion down there with a hot cup of coffee. The cloaked schemer looked up from his coffee and cocked his head at Axel.

"What are you doing up so early?" he asked.

"That's what I'd like to know," said Axel, pouring a cup of the caffeinated miracle drink for himself.

"I couldn't sleep. And you?"

"Ditto."

"Nightmares again?"

"Yes, sadly. You just woke up at a random time I presume?"

"No. I had a nightmare too."

Axel took a sip of his coffee.

"What was yours about?" he asked.

"Mmm…not really much of anything," answered Zexion. "Just about you, I guess. I mean, it had you in it."

"Really? What was so horrible about it?"

Zexion looked at Axel almost pleadingly.

"I dreamt that you didn't kill me and I spent the rest of my life in a living hell," he said.

"Mmmm………I'm not really listening to you. You may warp my mind all you want, but I shall never give in."

"You suck," said Zexion. "I will win this battle, and you know it. After all, I've seen it in some visions of mine."

"You're crazy. But that's why you're my friend."

Zexion looked away from Axel and took a sip of his coffee.

"You look like crap," said Zexion. "What happened to your face?"

"I'm not having any good sleep lately. It's having a really bad effect on me."

"You look like you need a hug."

"How did you know?"

Axel laughed for some reason.

"I can read your mind, doi."

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Yep."

There was a long moment of silence, until-

"Howdy y'all!" came a call from behind them.

They turned around and saw Marluxia walk in the room, with a big smile on his face. He always had to ruin everything. Axel turned back around and pretended to be doing something else. Marluxia strode over to them and flipped Axel back around. Zexion just stood there and stared at Marly for the weird intrusion.

"So how are you two doing?" asked Marly, grabbing a cup of coffee. "What exactly were you guys talking about?"

They didn't answer and Axel was continually trying to hide behind Zexion.

"Is there something on my face?" asked Marluxia, waiting for an answer.

Of course, nobody did answer him. They all just stood there saying absolutely nothing, staring at each other.

"So are you two dating?" asked Marluxia.

Axel and Zexion looked at each other with weird looks on their face. Of all the questions Marluxia could ask, that just _had _to be the one.

"Well, no, not really," said Axel, slightly pink.

"Not really?" asked flowerboy. "Does that mean you are but you're afraid to tell me?"

"No. We kissed once and that was it."

"But I thought you said that you would never kiss a guy."

"Well, I lied, okay?"

The room was silent again and Marluxia took a sip of his coffee, and was shortly followed by Axel.

"So does everyone know the plan?" asked Marluxia.

"You mean the one for overthrowing the Organization?" asked Zexion.

"Yes, I do mean that one."

"Yep," chorused Axel and Zexion.

"Good."

He chugged down the rest of his coffee and went to the door and pushed it open.

"Don't forget your positions," he stated as he walked out.

Axel and Zexion followed shortly thereafter.

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The next day went by so fast it was hard even to register what happened. Axel had finally given in to Zexion, due to much "mind warping" from the blue haired man, and Marluxia was brutally slaughtered by Sora, who had escaped the castle just this morning. Riku was still in the basement levels, but he didn't really have any relevance to the Organization's plans, so Axel just left him alone. Later on in the day, Demyx had stopped by to tell Axel some news.

Axel was sitting in his room, staring up at the ceiling, still regretting what he had done to Zexion. He could've just waited a little longer, he thought. Maybe he and Zexion could've been good friends. That would mean he could just completely forget about Roxas and have him as his best friend instead. And when it was his time to die, he would kill Zexion in the process, so they could be together in the afterlife. Axel always hated it when he had good ideas after he could do nothing about them.

Demyx had suddenly burst in out of nowhere, completely shattering his train of thought. Axel nearly fell out of his seat, and then continued to curse Demyx for an eternity.

"Hi Axel!" yelled the addicted-to-something blonde. "I have really great news for you!"

"What? Are you going to die in the next few minutes?"

"Of course not, silly! You're moving back to Deep Dive City!"

Axel would've jumped up right then if nobody was looking. He was going back to his favorite place in any world. He could actually get a good night's sleep there.

"When do I leave!" he asked with uber enthusiasm.

"Right this very second!" yelled Demyx.

"Yay!"

Before horsie890 could say "toast", Axel had unpacked everything of his-down to the very last piece of dental floss, and had packed them in a suitcase.

"Wow," said Demyx. "That was fast."

"Yep. NOW LET'S GO!"

"You're scaring me."

They both warped to Deep Dive City, where there was much rejoicing.

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Axel sat in Xemnas's dark room, waiting for him to reply.

"So who am I rooming with?" he asked impatiently.

He got no response. Apparently Xemnas was still thinking about his rooming assignment, because he heard a soft "Hmmmm" from Xemnas's direction. He thought he could've just stayed in his old room, but Demyx told him that they had moved everything out of it and were now using it for storage. And what was worse was that all of his stuff was moved into Saïx's room (whom he despised). He tapped his fingers on the armrest, obviously bored at Xemnas's lack of speed. Inside, he really hoped he was rooming with Demyx, just because he knew him a little bit better than anyone else that was here. Finally, Xemnas spoke.

"Because your stuff got moved into his room, you'll have to room with Saïx," he said. "I don't want you to give him any trouble."

It was always up to Xemnas to screw everything up. He now had to room with a total lunatic who had nothing better to do than stare at the fricken moon all the time. Axel tried his best to act sincere and said…

"Thank you, sir. When do I move in?"

"Right now," he answered. "Get your things and put them by his extra bed."

"Right away, sir."

Axel gladly walked out of the Superior's room and almost tripped over something on the way out (judging that he couldn't see anything because it was so dark).

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_(Roxas's PoV)_

He had been having these weird thoughts lately, like, was any of this for real or not? He had been thinking of Axel, of Namine, of DiZ, of his whole life in general. He was lost without a clue where he was going, and he wasn't going to find any kind of map soon. He didn't know why he was thinking of these people, but he just was. He didn't even know any of them.

He was lying in bed, staring up at the khaki colored ceiling. The past few days had flown by way too fast. He could barely even keep up with his own life. Right now he needed to relax and just forget about everything. However, it didn't work. It never worked. He was always doomed to be thinking. He was the local enigma, after all.

So he lay down and did nothing, thinking about anything that came to his mind. He was so lonely.

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_(Axel's PoV)_

Axel got his stuff from the front of the unknown's base and teleported to Saïx's room, where Saïx (of course) was meditating in front of the moon. Axel walked in very slowly, spotting his old bed. He tiptoed over to it and gently placed the suitcase there.

"Why are you in my room?" he asked, not even looking away from it.

"Uh….Xemnas told me that I was rooming with you, since Castle Oblivion…"

"…is destroyed. Okay. Just follow my rules and we'll get along fine."

"Alright. What are the rules?"

"Basically, you stay on your side and I stay on my side. And when you go to the bathroom, if it's yellow let it mellow and if it's brown flush it down. The plumbing sucks here, so that one's a biggie."

As if Saïx couldn't get any weirder.

"Sounds good."

He sat down on his bed and looked over at Saïx, who was in a perfect yoga posture, just sitting there and breathing. There was something seriously wrong with Saïx, Axel knew it. But for now, he would leave that alone and lie down and do absolutely nothing. After all, it _was _what he did best. He closed his eyes and sank into the bed, slowly drifting away to sleep.

He heard someone call his voice, at first it was soft, but then it sounded loud and demanding. He could see everyone that had died at Castle Oblivion. Larxene, Lexaeus, Marluxia, Vexen, and Zexion. They all looked so…sad. They were in the pitch black of nowhere, just talking. That seemed like the only thing they could do. They looked like they had emotions now. Maybe they had found their hearts. The voice came back again, and Axel suddenly realized that it was Zexion's. He looked at where Zexion was, and realized that he was trying to tell him something.

"Axel?" he asked.

"Yes?" he answered.

"I want to tell you something."

"Okay."

"Try to live the longest life you can, because we're all going to hell anyway. Got it memorized?"

"Of course," answered Axel with a laugh. Suddenly he felt something poke him, and he was back in Saïx's room, lying down on the bed. He looked up and saw Saïx leering over him, looking at him with those neon orange eyes.

"There's a meeting in Xemnas's room," said Saïx. "He wants you there."

"Okay," said Axel. "I'll be there in a minute."

Saïx summoned up a teleportation hole and stepped inside. Axel looked up at the ceiling, totally weirded out by that short dream. Had Zexion really talked to him? Or was that a dream? Whatever it was, there was one thing that was for sure. He liked the phrase "Got it memorized?" And he wanted to use it after every single sentence he could possibly fathom. He sat up and walked to the center of the room.

He then summoned a pillar of darkness and stepped into it.

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Xemnas just loved to monologue everything. It was always "bla bla bla…I'm the supreme ruler of darkness" or "look at me, I rule all of you pathetic mortals". Axel was sick of it. He wouldn't even call this a meeting. It was more like "the time when the gullible idiots that actually came to this stupid thing have to listen to Xemnas ramble on about useless crap that doesn't have any relevance whatsoever." But, in a convenient shortened word, it was called a meeting. The only person that actually listened to Xemnas was Saïx. Xigbar was nearly asleep, Demyx was asleep, Luxord was playing solitaire, Xaldin was pretending like he was listening but was really doing a bad job at it, and Axel was just sitting there staring into space.

"So that's the plan," said Xemnas. "Does anybody have any questions?"

"No," they all said.

"Good," said Xemnas. "Now let's go over this once more."

Axel could've sworn that Xemnas was doing this on purpose. He purposely wanted to ram his head into a wall. And the interesting thing was that Saïx just sat there and listened. He was the only one that ever asked questions, and he was constantly staring at Xemnas. He had proven that he needed to be in an insane asylum. Axel caught a few of the words that Xemnas had said, like "darkness" and "Kingdom Hearts" and "Heartless". He was going to betray the Organization anyway, so why should he listen?

"You're all dismissed now," said Xemnas. "But Saïx needs to stay here."

Everybody nearly ran out of the room, except for Demyx, who was fast asleep with his head on the table. Axel went over and shook him.

"Just…five…more…minutes…Saïx…,"he mumbled.

Axel picked him up and slung him over his shoulder. He walked out of the meeting room and before long Demyx had awoken.

"Am I dead?" he asked.

"No," answered Axel. "But you are heavy."

"Oh. You can let me down now."

Axel didn't "let him down". He threw him down.

"Owie," said Mullet Man. "What was that for?"

"For me having to carry you so you wouldn't get your ass kicked by a blue haired elf," answered Axel.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why were you carrying me?"

"Because we were in a meeting and you were asleep. So I picked you up and took you out of there before Xemnas got mad."

"Oh. I remember now. You know what?"

"What?"

"I think I left my sitar pick in there. I'd better go get it."

Axel grabbed his shoulder.

"Dude. Xemnas and Saïx are talking in there. You'd better not disturb them."

"Relax. All I'll have to is pop in, get the pick, and pop out. Easy peezy lemon squeezy."

"Whatever. It's your funeral."

Demyx jumped up for some retarded reason and teleported back into the meeting room. Axel heard some yelling and mumbling and Demyx reappeared in front of Axel, sitar pick in hand. He looked utterly terrified.

"I told you," said Axel. "I take it that that didn't go very well."

"They…weren't…talking!" yelled Demyx. "They were…yucky."

"What? They were yucky?"

"Yes. THEY WERE YUCKY!"

"Demyx, please tell me what that means in English."

Demyx whispered something in Axel's ear and Axel's cheeks turned a pinkish color.

"Oh," said Axel. "I get it."

"I would prefer to drop this subject," said Demyx. "Why don't we go into my room and have fun?"

"Uh…sure," said Axel.

They both teleported into Demyx's room.

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_(Very much later)_

After countless hours of playing Twister with Demyx, Axel returned to Saïx's room, sore and everything, and plopped down on his bed. Saïx was sitting on his bed, staring at the moon. It was the middle of the night and Saïx's huge French windows were opened up to let the pale light of the moon hit everything. There was no way Axel could sleep with this much light.

"Is that all you ever do?" asked Axel.

Saïx actually turned around and looked at him with those freaky orange eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"Stare at the moon. Every time I come in here you're staring at it."

"I can't help it. I'm drawn to it like a magnet."

"But how can you sleep with all of this light?"

"I don't sleep. It's as simple as that."

"You're joking, right?"

Saïx jumped off of his bed.

"Why would I be joking?" he asked.

"Because you need to sleep. Everybody sleeps," answered Axel.

"Well, not everybody does. Xemnas doesn't. And neither do I."

"So you're just going to leave those windows open all night long?"

"Yes. You don't mind, do you?"

Saïx was such a stupid prick. Of course Axel minded.

"No, of course not," answered Axel. "I'm gonna go to sleep now."

He took off his boots and gloves and crawled under the covers.

"You're not going to brush your teeth?" asked Saïx.

"I never brush my teeth," answered Axel.

"Then why are they so white?"

"Because they're naturally like that."

"Oh."

He heard Saïx walk over to the left side of his bed, pull up a chair and sit down.

"I hope you don't mind if I observe you while you sleep," he said.

This guy was mental.

"Of course not," answered Axel with a yawn. "Just don't touch me."

"I won't."

Axel fell asleep, despite the fact that he knew Saïx was going to stare at his sleeping body for the rest of the night. Axel wanted to kill Xemnas.

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Well, that's the seventh chapter. Please review, flame me if you want. I don't care.

. 


	8. Looking into the Heart

Hello everyone. I really appreciate how many reviews you all have submitted to this story and would really appreciate it if you wrote more.

And now on with the story.

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Chapter Eight: Looking into the Heart

_Axel had been having these weird dreams lately. He found it strange that a person with no heart could still dream, especially ones that were so vivid like his. He dreamt about Roxas for three nights in a row. It was the same story repeating over and over again, every night- like a series of books. Roxas would come into his room, yell at Axel to wake him up, and they'd go play together for hours on end. The conclusion of these dreams was when Roxas left him and the Organization. He remembered how bad it felt to see his best friend turn his back on him and step into the dark abyss, seemingly never to be seen again. It was so strange that a person with no heart could feel such pain as his best friend disappeared for so long. He could remember Roxas's voice and that dopey smile he always had on when they had fun. He would miss those days. He knew now that Roxas had matured out of that period in his life, and nothing in the world would ever change that…_

Axel opened his eyes and took a deep breath in, adjusting his eyes to the darkness in his room. It was always dark here, but Saïx's room was brighter than most because the elf always loved the moon to shine inside and illuminate everything. He felt a warm breath on the back of his neck, along with the touch of a hand run across his side, traveling down to curl around his tiny stomach. Axel suddenly realized that he wasn't wearing a cloak anymore. He turned around slowly and realized that Saïx was laying down on the bed right next to him, with eyes completely open.

"Mornin' sleepyhead," he said, scooting closer to Axel. "Man, you sure are warm."

"Eeeeeeew!" yelled Axel, rolling over to the edge of the bed, pulling the covers up to cover his half naked body. "I thought I told you not to touch me!"

"I didn't touch you," said Saïx.

"Then how the hell did my cloak get off of my body!"

"I removed it with my mind."

That had to be the most pathetic excuse Axel had ever heard in his short, miserable life.

"Yeah right," he said. "I felt you touching my tummy with your hand just a few seconds ago."

"No you didn't," said Saïx very quickly.

"Yes I did, Saïx. I think I know what I think about."

"So? I think I know what you think you think about, Axel."

"Ugh. You're worse than Demyx. Now where's my cloak?"

"I dunno."

Axel's brain went asplodey.

"Yes you do. You're the one who hid it."

"No, I did not hide it. _You _hid it."

"Why would I hide my own cloak?"

"I dunno. Maybe you just didn't want me to see it."

This was going absolutely nowhere.

"Okay. How about this, elfie?" asked Axel in a tone that simply said "I'm gonna rip your eyes out right now if you ignore me." "You tell me where my damn cloak is, I'll tear you limb from limb this very second."

"Ooooh," said Saïx mockingly. "I like that offer of yours, but I'm afraid Xemnas wouldn't be too pleased with you. After all, he _does _play favorites."

Saïx laid down on his back and twirled a strand of bright blue hair around his index finger, looking up at Axel with the most pleading eyes he could muster (which actually turned out pretty well, on the Cute Scale). Axel was beginning to get the hint.

"What exactly is it that you want, Saïx?" he blurted out, almost afraid of what Saïx's answer would be.

"Well, I don't know," said Saïx extremely evilly. "Come here and I'll tell."

"This…is….ridiculous," said Axel, scooting towards Saïx. "You could've told me from a distance."

"No, I couldn't have. In fact, you're a bit far away where you are, so why don't you come closer?"

"No way. My limit to closeness with you is a three foot radius."

"Sorry to hear that, Axel. I guess I'll have to move closer to _y-o-u_."

Saïx moved on top of Axel, who was squirming underneath him, nearly suffocating with all of the weight that was on top of him.

"Get offa me!" he yelled.

"Aw shuddup," said Saïx, elbowing him in the stomach. "It's always _me, me, me _with you. Can't you ever think of anyone else?"

"What are you talking about!" yelled Axel, after taking in a huge gulp of air. "Why the HELL do you say things that have no relevance whatsoever and then make me all confused because I don't understand what they mean!"

"Cause I'm mean like that, that's why."

If Xemnas didn't respect him so much, Axel would've kicked Saïx's ass right there.

"Fine!" yelled Axel. "Just tell me what you want me to do so I can get my fricken cloak back!"

"Hmmmmm….thinking here, give me a second…."

Axel just finally pushed the blue-haired elf off of his tiny little body, causing Saïx to groan weirdly.

"Fine, I've got the perfect idea!" he yelled.

"What is it?"

Saïx scooted over to Axel's side and whispered something in Axel's ear, making Axel punch him in the face.

"You sicko!" he yelled angrily. "There is no way in hell I'll do that! I'll just use one of my spare robes…"

"I kinda hid those too," said Saïx evilly. "And I'm not giving them back until you do what I said."

"Fine. But no videotaping or anything!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Axel stormed out of Saïx's room, cloakless and everything and walked down the hall to Demyx's room…

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Demyx was lying down in bed, plucking some random strings on his sitar, when suddenly he heard a knock at his door.

"Who is it?" he asked, bolting upright.

"Just open the door!" came a muffled reply. It sounded like Axel.

"I'm coming! Just hold on a sec!"

Outside the door, Axel wondered why he asked Demyx to come in when he could've just passed through the door. The lock on the door clicked and it opened, revealing Mullet Man, confused as ever.

"Uh…Axel?" he asked. "Why are you only wearing underwear?"

Axel knew Saïx was watching him from the back of the hall. As much as he hated to say this, he needed his clothes.

"Um…..because I want to…erm…uh….bleh…"

"You want to what?" asked Demyx. "I can't really understand you."

"I…uh…"

He swore Saïx had whipped out a camcorder that very instant.

"I…want you to…take me into bed and have your way with me."

"WHAT?"

Saïx's cackling could be heard a mile away. No, really. It could've. It was that loud.

"FAG!" yelled Demyx, closing the door on Axel's pinky.

"Oh &#!" yelled Axel, hopping up and down. "&$ YOU SAÏX!"

He could mentally picture Saïx going into Xemnas's room and showing him the tape he just made. Axel stormed into his room and saw that Saïx had left his cloak on the bed, with a little note that read:

_AOL Messenger Guy (a.k.a. Me),_

_You've got blackmail!_

_Congratulations!_

_Love your dear elfy friend,_

_Saïx_

_P.S. You suck._

Axel immediately set the note on fire and put his cloak on. Why oh why did Xemnas have to make him room with the crazy blue-haired elf man who sits and drools while gaping at the humungous moon? Anybody else would've been better to room with, except for Larxene because she would try to attempt to take his clothes off. But luckily she was dead and he didn't have to worry about it.

The next thing on his agenda was to go and apologize to Demyx for that thing Saïx just recently made him do. He felt sorry for the little mullet haired man. If Axel were in his position, he would've thrown up. So he went across the hall and knocked once again on Demyx's door. He heard the pitter patter of footsteps and the door opened, with the melodious nocturne at its front. But just as soon as he was about to apologize, the door closed with a loud slam. If Axel could burn anything right now, it would be Saïx or Xemnas (if he wouldn't get tortured to death if he did).

"Demyx!" he yelled. "I want to say sorry!"

"Go away, you big meanie!" came a muffled reply.

"I just want to apologize!"

The door clicked open and Demyx stood there with his usual dopey smile on.

"You're forgiven," he said happily. "Wanna play Twister?"

"Uh, no. I really have other plans."

"Awwwww. But it would be fun!"

He did one of his signature retard jumps to accompany what he said.

"No, really," said Axel. "I've got some errands I have to run. But I'll see you later, don't worry."

"Okay!"

Demyx skipped happily back into his room and closed the door. Great. Now he had to come back and play Twister with mullet man because he didn't want to hurt the poor man's feelings. He opened up a dark portal and stepped into it, heading towards the library in the old mansion in Twilight Town.

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_(Roxas's PoV)_

"_So, Axel was my friend?" asked Roxas, looking for an answer from the light blonde haired girl. She was quiet for a moment before she said her answer, as always._

"_Yes," she answered shyly. "You and he were very close to each other. When you left him, he became mean and aggressive, with a developing anger problem. You see, Roxas- you were his life. He lived only because of you, and now he's miserable because you aren't there to have fun with him and tell him to never give up the fight for life. You are special Roxas. You can bring joy into people's lives without even trying, and now Axel misses you because you were his only best friend. He wants you back."_

"_Wow," said the Dark Keyblade Master. "I didn't know I was that important. Why did I leave? Was he mad at me or something?"_

_Naminé smiled at him._

"_You wanted to find your other half…Sora," she said. "You knew that you wanted to meet the very person that created you. So you left Organization XIII, betraying every one of them all for your needs. Now they're out to find you, which is why you must learn to master the Keyblade once more."_

"_Was I a Keyblade Master?"_

"_Yes. You were- and are- the wielder of Keyblade Dark. There are three versions of Keyblade Masters- light, twilight, and dark. Sora is the Light Keyblade Master, King Mickey is the Twilight Master and you are the Dark Master. You have the power of wielding two Keyblades whenever you want, without having to use MP or go into Drive mode. But be aware that your darkness can be your demise. If you use it too much, your existence might be crushed. Always follow your light."_

_Dark fog started gathering around her, noting that a portal was forming._

"_Wait Naminé!" yelled Roxas, somehow unable to move. "I have one more question!"_

"_Just trust your instincts, Roxas," said Naminé, disappearing behind the circular shape of the portal. _

"_WAIT!"_

Roxas's eyes opened, glancing around at his room. It was about 5 in the morning, and everything was lit by a blue, hazy glow. He sat up and rubbed his eyes and then laid back down and stared up at the ceiling.

"Dark Keyblade Master, huh?" he said to himself. "I kinda like the sound of that. I think I'll go check out that old mansion today."

He let his head sink into the pillow of his bed, and he fell asleep again, a small smile forming on his face right at the moment his eyes closed. He hadn't even noticed the small blonde haired girl watching him, smiling her usual shy smile as the dawn light reflected off of her…

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_(Axel's PoV)_

It was always so beautiful in Twilight Town. Everything was always warm and there was never a cloud in the sky. Axel laws leaning against the wall of the train station with his hood down, enjoying a late afternoon snack of sea salt ice cream. He soaked in the sun that was gazing down upon the small town, illuminating it with its rich glow. There was no sun like this in Deep Dive. Real or not, Axel loved it. Too bad this was the fake Twilight Town.

He finished off the last of his ice cream and went over and scared some little kids (just because that's the kind of person he is) and teleported to the old mansion. He knew that Naminé and DiZ were always hanging out there, regardless if you could see them or not. He could see the humungous mansion from outside the gate, focusing his eyes a bit more to see the cracked pillars and broken windows. Roxas would be here any minute now, so he had best get ready for it. Word had been going around that his friend knew the truth now about their friendship, and he wanted to go see if he could try and Roxas back into the Organization. After all, it was his "mission", as Xemnas called it. Axel wanted to think of it more as a reunion, really.

"Here goes nothing. Really."

He pushed open the huge black gate that creaked as it swayed inward further. He walked past the crumbled stone and brick and opened the old oak doors, revealing a vast hallway ahead of him. If this mansion was newer, he might've considered living there. But to tell the truth, he didn't really want to make friends with dust and cobwebs. He climbed up the rickety wooden stairs that were slightly rotting and turned left into the library. Thankfully nobody was here. He teleported once more into the secret part of the library, the computerized, high-tech room. He passed through the mechanical door because it wouldn't read his weight because he didn't exist. Finally he was in the hallway before the main computer room, where Roxas would be in about ten minutes. All he would have to do is wait….

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_(Roxas's PoV)_

Roxas shuffled inside the hidden room, feeling his adrenaline kick in because he didn't know what was going on. Who would've thought that there would be a secret passageway underneath that library? He pushed the button to open the mechanical door that led to a room he didn't know. He ran inside and heard the mechanical door lock behind him. He suddenly got scared. Dusks appeared all over the place, and he felt the warm buzz of the Keyblade materializing in his hand. He guessed that this would never end.

After defeating four dusks and two assassins, Roxas heard an all-too-familiar voice behind him.

"Hello there Roxas," said the sly, sarcastic voice of Axel. "That's some hardcore fighting you're doing there."

"Axel…," Roxas started.

"Have you remembered when we were friends now?" he continued on. "Do you remember how you betrayed me?"

"Axel."

"Well I'm SO FLATTERED!" (A/N: Okay, so I don't have the actual words they say. Cut me some slack here.)

A ring of fire blazed around him and his long-time-no-see friend.

"You traitor!" yelled Axel angrily.

Axel bent his head down at a ninety degree angle and spread his toothpicks of arms out in a locked position. Wisps of darkness appeared on them and soon two chakrams appeared in their place, looking almost deadly as Roxas gaped at their six diamond shaped points. However, summoning up almost all of his strength, Roxas materialized two Keyblades at once, whipping them out as if to brag to Axel about how strong he really was. They both felt familiar as he gripped them in his hands. He even remembered their names- Oblivion and Oathkeeper.

"Two!" yelled Axel angrily.

The ground of the room lit on fire, burning the rubber off of Roxas's shoes. He quickly leapt into the air and attacked Axel with furious slashes, controlling the Keyblades almost simultaneously, but off by at least half a second. It created a smoother and faster attack, making sure he couldn't let Axel win this fight. But a part of him didn't want to hurt him, either.

Axel attacked back just as fiercely, sometimes catching him unaware and leaping out of the ring of fire and leaping back onto him, creating an explosion of flame around Roxas. Axel could handle his two chakrams very well, and they sliced through the air with no difficulty and much speed. However, the fight didn't last long and the flame around them both diminished as Axel fell over in a panting heap.

"I see you still have got it," said Axel, chuckling. He was barely holding onto his chakrams now. They were both hanging off of the tips of his frail, skinny fingers.

"Axel!" yelled Roxas. He remembered every moment he ever had with Axel now, and he was feeling pity for his friend.

"Don't worry about me," he said with a tired sigh. "I'm sure your other friends wouldn't like it if they saw you with me. So I guess I'll see you in the afterlife. That is, _if _there is an afterlife for me. Take care, Roxas."

The dark mist formed around him as a teleportation hole started to form. Roxas ran over to it, wanting his friend to stay, but the red haired enigma was gone before he could shout his name. Roxas felt like crying. All this time he hadn't known about their friendship, until just now when he couldn't talk to him any longer. He stood there for a few moments and contemplated this, holding back tears that were starting to form. Knowing that he was the only thing Axel had made him angry and sad at the same time. He wished he hadn't gone and deserted him and totally destroyed him because of it. He hung his head low and watched the last of the mist vaporize into thin air.

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_(Axel's PoV)_

Axel nearly fell over onto the cold silk sheets of Saïx's bed, wanting to kill himself right then and there for just leaving Roxas there and not spending any time with him. He took the feather pillow and shoved his head under it, tired of seeing the moon shine in with all of its brightness. He wanted to go back and give Roxas a hug or something, but he knew that would only hurt his reputation. No sooner than he had started thinking about ways he could forgive himself for leaving Roxas, he felt the bed shift under somebody's (or nobody's, technically) weight. He pulled his head out from under the black pillow and saw Saïx staring at him with those freaky orange eyes of his. And just a second ago the blue haired elf wasn't in there.

"Do you always have to ruin my life?" asked Axel, sitting up.

"Why, of course I do," answered Saïx matter-of-factly. "It's my duty to make sure nobody's happy around here, especially you and Demyx."

"Oh. I so want your job."

"Nah. It's not that great."

There was a moment of silence.

"You know, Xemnas really liked that prank I pulled on you," interrupted Saïx. "In fact, everybody else did too. If Marluxia were here, he would totally be making fun of you right now."

"You mean you told everyone about it?" asked Axel, trying not to get too angry.

"No, I didn't tell them. I videotaped it and showed everyone. There's a big difference you know."

Axel plopped back down and buried his head under the pillow once more. He couldn't believe this guy. Well, now that he thought about it, he could. What else would an evil villain do in his spare time, right? He needed sleep.

"So I'm judging that your day wasn't very good," said Saïx, gently placing a hand on Axel's back (much to the redhead's despise).

"Yes, my day sucked," came a muffled reply from Axel who was nearly asleep now. "Why should you care?"

"Just making sure you're miserable," answered Saïx. "Now if you don't mind, I've got to go do business with Xemnas. Can you handle being on your own for a while?"

Axel shuddered as he thought of what Saïx meant by "business".

"Yes, I can handle it," he answered. "And just to let you know, I'm not a baby, so don't treat me like one."

"You're in a lower rank than me, so I consider you a baby. And I'm glad to hear that you can manage yourself. So, toodles!"

He felt Saïx's hand leave his back and heard the familiar sound of a portal being opened. All he needed to do now was sleep. But he couldn't, of course, because he promised Demyx to a game of Twister. He would feel really bad if he broke his promise. So as fast as he could (which wasn't fast at all), he climbed out of bed and teleported to Demyx's room, where mullet man was waiting with much anticipation. Whoever invented Twister was going straight to hell….

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Man, I am slow at updating. Can you believe it's been a month? I gotta get my act together.

So please review. Say anything you want, whether it's good or bad.

Peace out!

-WoDF


	9. Redemption

Okay, I'm going to try and update this as soon as possible, because last time it took me a month to do this. So here it goes.

By the way, thanks to everybody who reviews this. This was actually my first successful story, believe it or not. This chapter will probably be mostly in Roxas's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, and ummmm…..oh yeah! I also don't own Dr. Pepper and Twister. Evil Twister……

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Chapter Nine: Redemption

_Roxas was on the brink of despair. His whole life was a lie. It was merely a simulation set up be DiZ, a man who wanted to hunt down and kill every one of his old comrades- a man who he hated with every fiber of his body. Ansem the Wise didn't understand what it was like to be a nobody. He didn't know what it was like not to have a heart or feelings. Heck, only thirteen people really did. But still, you should never judge a person's life by who they are. It's just wrong to do that. And already, DiZ had succeeded in taking the lives of five of those thirteen people, who were working so hard just to feel emotion and love once again. He could even remember all of their names now. He wondered if they would ever accept him again…_

Roxas fell over and panted after attempting to kill a hologram of DiZ. Rage and hate flowed through his body like a burning fire. How dare this man tell him that he wasn't meant to live! But now the hologram was gone, and the only person left in the room with him was the sleeping figure of Sora suspended in a crystalline flower. Roxas had been having weird dreams about his counterpart lately, maybe telling him that he should go meet him. And now here he was, standing right in front of the very person he wanted to meet. Of course, he was sleeping and there really was no chance of a good conversation to start. Sighing, The Discovered Key got up from the ground and looked at his counterpart with the way too poofy pants. He had to make a decision now.

'_Fuse with him or return to Axel and the Organization?'_

Even though he had already thought about this, he still was unsure about what he was going to do. Should he really join the good side and help make Sora stronger or go back to where he was- and what he was- with Axel and the others like him? This was going to take a long time to decide….

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_(Axel's POV)_

It had been a week since Axel had moved back to Deep Dive, and so far, it had been hell. Saïx was possibly the worst person ever to room with, so much that Axel would rather sleep with half rotting corpse naked than the moon-gazing man. Demyx constantly begged him to go play when he really had better things to do. And of course there was Xemnas, who gave him every single task known to mankind. All he wanted to do was escape and go find Roxas or Sora. Then it would be like he would be free, not including a heart. He would have to wait for that.

Axel sunk his head into his black silk pillow as he dreamed of Roxas. This was the first time in a long time that he actually had a good dream, and he was thankful for that. He believed that Zexion's mind warp had worn off now, which was also an added plus. But sadly, he missed the blue-haired, emo man. He was like a friend to him, except not as immature as Roxas. He was so alone now, and it made him very sad. His greatest wish was that Roxas would walk into the castle one day and announce that he was staying there forever. But Axel knew that would never happen. But he still hoped for it.

Axel awoke to somebody poking him, finding out that it was Saïx. He groggily opened his eyes and looked into Saïx's yellow ones. He was so angry at this man it wasn't even funny.

"You rang?" he asked sleepily.

"Yes," said Saïx. "I just awoke you to tell you that Xemnas wants you in his room, stat."

'_What did he want now?'_

"Fine, I'll get up out of this warm, comfy bed and go to the Superior's cold, dark room so I will fall asleep as he rants on about what a disgrace I am. Lovely."

"Good boy," said Saïx, patting him on the head.

Axel couldn't take it anymore. He jumped forward and bit Saïx on the same hand that he patted him with, making it gush out warm blood. Why he decided to bite him, he didn't know. As he pulled away, he looked up at Saïx's face, eyes almost bulging out of his head by what he saw. Saïx's orange eyes started to cloud up with a crimson red, his teeth grew long and pointed, and his normally long, delicate fingers grew the nails out so long that the gloves themselves ripped open. It was then that Axel realized that Saïx was going into Berserk Mode. And he ran for it. Like a sissy little girl.

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_(Roxas's POV)_

He had made up his mind. After sitting for about half an hour and thinking about this, he decided not to fuse with Sora. After all, he was the Dark Keyblade Master. If he were to fuse with him, there would no longer be a Dark Keyblade Master. He would no longer exist. So, instead, he would return to the World That Never Was and surprise Axel. It was what he wanted to do in the first place. But instead he was abducted by DiZ and wiped clean of all of his memories of his best friend. Now all he had to do was remember how to summon up a dark portal.

All of a sudden he heard footsteps coming his way. He quickly ran behind the giant flower that his counterpart was sleeping in. He heard a familiar voice, that of a young girl. Just to make sure he knew who it was, he slowly peered around the corner of the chrysalis. Sure enough, Namine walked into the room, obviously searching around for him.

"Roxas!" she yelled out, still looking around. "Roxas, where are you?"

"I'm right here!" he answered, stepping out from behind the pod.

"Thank goodness I found you!" she said, running over to him. "Roxas, you can't go back to the World that Never Was."

"Why not?"

"Because the whole Organization is out to exterminate you. They want to kill you because they believe it will weaken Sora. You need to stay away from them."

"But what about Axel? I know he wants me back."

"You're right. He does. But the rest of them will pin you down and kill you. If you want to live, then run and escape before they find you."

Roxas hung his head down and thought for a moment. Finally, he thought of something to say back to the shy, blonde haired girl.

"Then let them kill me!" he yelled angrily. "Life isn't worth living if I can't be with Axel!"

"Roxas…."

"No! Be quiet! I'm going to find him and I don't care if they kill me! I know Axel needs me!"

He summoned up a portal leading to the World That Never Was and smiled as he felt the reassuring cold of the darkness seep into his body as he tapped into it. He didn't care about Naminé anymore. He needed Axel now. Stepping through, he relaxed his muscles knowing that he would soon be back to his real home……

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_(Axel's POV)_

That was the last straw. He was getting out of here. He didn't like fighting against the people he was trying to save. All he would need were the clothes on his back. His first destination would be to go to Twilight Town, where he could finally be with Roxas without any _rules. _He stamped out of Saïx's room with a triumphant smile on his face, ready to see his best friend once more. If only he could forget everything about this place except for his memories of Roxas……but oh well. He had wanted to do this for a long time.

As he was walking down the hall, Demyx ran out of his room with his trademark stupid grin on his face. Immediately he hugged Axel, making number eight shiver as he did so.

"Hey Axy!" yelled mullet man. "Where are ya goin'?"

"To see Roxas," answered Axel, shoving him away.

"Alright. When you get back, would you like to play DDR with me? Xemnas got me a PS2 today and…….."

"I'm not coming back," interrupted Axel. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going now."

He swerved around the now still Demyx, who was obviously hurt by this remark. He turned around and looked at Axel, who was now summoning a portal.

"Wait!" he yelled, nearly choking on his tears. "You're my only friend! If you left, I would be so sad! Don't go!"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I wouldn't miss you at all," said Axel, putting a foot inside the portal. "Got it memorized?"

Demyx's chin quivered as warm tears flowed down his cheeks.

"But Axel…."

"Goodbye, retard."

Axel shot him one last evil look and stepped all the way into the portal, not feeling any sympathy for the Melodious Nocturne, who was now huddled up on the floor crying in a fetal position.

"He was my only friend……," cried out Demyx.

He was left alone in the cold, empty hall of his living quarters for about three hours until Luxord came along and put him to bed. He had nightmares all night.

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_(Roxas's POV)_

He smelled the sweet air and soaked it in, loving how much familiarity it had in it. He was finally home. He had found his nobody cloak and was wearing it now, not ashamed at all of his new, yet old appearance. He looked up at the only thing that was lighting this place, _Kingdom Hearts. _He loved the radiant glow of the heart-shaped moon as its light shone down on the dark, desolate place below. Smiling at the happiness of being at his real home, he teleported into the main part of the Organization's base, right into the hall where Axel's and his old room used to be.

He walked over to Axel's door and knocked on it, almost sure that his friend was there. At first, he didn't hear a response, so he knocked again. No response. Growing suspicious, he tried the handle, which was surprisingly unlocked.

'_Usually Axel enjoys his privacy…'_

Scanning the room with deep aqua eyes, he proved that Axel wasn't in there. He walked over to the bathroom and looked in there also, but there was no sign of his friend in there either. Straying over to the closet, he searched there too, although it would be weird if he found Axel in his closet. He wasn't there either. He wasn't anywhere in his room.

'_Maybe Xemnas sent him on a mission…'_

He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Maybe Demyx would know where he went. Striding across the hall, he stopped at Demyx's door and lightly tapped on it, hoping the teenager wasn't asleep. Thankfully, he heard a muffled "What?" and heard mullet man walk over to the door. Demyx's eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"Dude……ROXAS!" he yelled.

Immediately he pounced on Roxas and nearly suffocated him with a hug.

"Man, I am so glad to see you!" he yelled after letting go of his deadly embrace.

"Uh…yeah…me too," said Roxas. "Hey, have you seen Axel or maybe perhaps know where he's going?"

The smile immediately wiped off of Demyx's face.

"Yeah, you just missed him. Said he was going away forever and was never coming back."

"What? But…I came back just for him! Why would he do that to me?"

Demyx suddenly realized that he was helping the person that broke his friendship with his only friend. He wanted revenge. But luckily, he could use Roxas's question to his advantage. Quickly thinking of an excuse, he blurted it out for Roxas.

"He said something about killing that stupid kid Sora," he answered. "I wouldn't blame him."

"But….why would he do that if he knew that would destroy me?" asked Roxas. Demyx could tell he was breaking down.

Demyx never knew being evil could be so much fun.

"You know what?" he said. "Now that I really think about it, I think he said something about how he outgrew you and could care less about you still being alive. After all, we _are _nobodies and we aren't supposed to really _care _about anything."

Demyx smiled as he saw a silver tear flow down Roxas's cheek. Suddenly the Discovered Key whipped out his Keyblade and whacked at the cold, black wall with it in anger.

"Fine!" yelled Roxas. "If he doesn't need me, I don't need him! I knew I should've fused with Sora when I had the chance. I should've listened to what Naminé was trying to tell me. Thank you, Demyx. You're always such a nice person."

Roxas leaned forward and hugged him.

"Anytime, my friend, anytime," Demyx whispered into his ear.

Roxas pulled away from Demyx and walked down the hall.

"I guess this is goodbye, Demyx," he said, waving. "Thanks once again, buddy!"

"No problem!" Demyx said with an almost too apparent cheesy smile.

Roxas summoned a warp hole and stepped through it, leaving the smiling Demyx the only one left in the hallway.

"Sucker," muttered Demyx to himself as he walked into his room and closed the door.

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Saïx was walking alone in the narrow, dark hallways of the Organization's base. He had been called to Xemnas's room for something and he was heading there now. Quietly he knocked on the huge doors of his Superior's room, and heard a muffled "Come in." He opened the black marble doors and immediately his eyes adjusted to the pitch black darkness.

"Sit down, Saïx," ordered Xemnas, who was sitting behind his mahogany desk, tapping his fingers. Saïx pulled up a chair and sat down quietly.

"Did I do anything wrong, sir?" he asked, wondering if he was in any kind of trouble.

"No," answered Xemnas, standing up and walking over to his trusted blue-haired elf. "I need you to do something for me."

Saïx blushed, thinking of what that could possibly mean, but luckily it was too dark to see that his face was a deep shade of red. Sitting up straight, he made eye contact with Xemnas and waited for his instructions.

"I've heard rumors that Axel has gone missing," continued Xemnas, causing Saïx to furrow his eyebrows in confusion. "Demyx said that he ran away, never to return."

"That's strange," said Saïx. "He was here this morning. He must've left about three hours ago, because that was when I was on duty at Hollow Bastion. What do you want me to do about it?"

"I was just getting to that part. You see, I play favorites. And you are on the top of that list. I can trust you to go find him."

Saïx turned his gaze from Xemnas for a moment.

"Find him? Did he betray us?" he asked.

"Yes," answered Xemnas. "Once you find him, kill him. I know you're capable of that."

"Yes sir. I'll get right on it."

Saïx stood up and bowed to his master, then going to head for the door. But he felt Xemnas grab his arm before he could move. Turning around to face him, Xemnas wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace.

"We'll be free soon, Saïx," said Xemnas lovingly, brushing a strand of sky blue hair out of Saïx's face. "We will be able to feel again. And it'll be just you and me."

Saïx smiled at the thought, after getting a firm kiss from Xemnas. His Superior let go of him and motioned for him to go.

"Thank you, Xemnas," he said, stepping into an already opened portal. He wasn't quite sure of what he was thanking Xemnas for, really.

Xemnas smiled back. "You're welcome."

Saïx nodded and stepped all the way into the portal, heading to Destiny Islands.

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_(Before – Axel's POV)_

A place never felt so warm to Axel as Destiny Islands. He walked along the beach, admiring the footprints his shoes had made in the sand. The waved washed them away, one by one behind him. Nothing had ever felt so good. He looked up at the sun, enjoying the heat that was beating down on him.

'_If only Deep Dive was like this.'_

His plan was very simple. He would kidnap Kairi, using her to lure Sora into a trap. And because he didn't exactly know where Roxas was (because he had already searched all over the fake and real Twilight Towns), he thought that either Sora might know where he is, or maybe Roxas would come to him because he was with his other half. It was pure genius.

Suddenly he saw Kairi walking along the beach in front of him, looking out across the ocean. Knowing Axel, he wanted to make this a huge moment, so instead of walking over to her, he teleported. At first, the yellow dog named Pluto jumped out, because Axel had almost forgotten that the dog had followed him here. As soon as he jumped out of the portal, he saw Kairi jump up in fear.

"Who are you!" she yelled, frightened.

"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

Taking a moment to look at her appearance, he suddenly realized that she looked like a total slut.

"Why are you here?" she asked him.

"Well, we have something in common. We both miss someone we love."

"You know where Sora is?"

Axel smirked.

"Maaaaaaybe…."

"This is not funny! I want Sora!"

'_What a brat.'_

Axel tapped into the darkness and summoned up four Dusks. Pluto's ears perked up. He also opened up a portal behind Kairi. Immediately Pluto ran into it.

"You should follow the doggy," said Axel. "It may lead you to someone…."

Kairi ran as fast as she could (which wasn't very fast at all) towards the portal.

"Thank you!" she yelled back.

She ran into the portal. Although, Axel sensed something went wrong….

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_(Saïx's POV ((continued))_

It was way too warm here. He liked cold, dark places-like his home. He knew Axel was here. Wading in the water, he looked around everywhere with his sharp orange eyes. The water felt good as it rushed in between his legs. It was now that he realized he hadn't gone swimming in a long time. In fact, he didn't even know where or how he had learned to swim. Axel was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn him!" he yelled aloud. Deep down he really hated the man. He was thankful that Xemnas had authorized him to terminate him.

'_Maybe some civilians would know where he is.'_

He looked around again in search of some people he could ask. Wading a little further, he saw a kid with orange boomerang hair throwing a ball on a small island. Not even thinking about it, he teleported to the island and stood behind the boy as he was bouncing the ball back and forth on an oddly bent palm tree.

"Excuse me."

The kid turned around and nearly fell over with shock.

"What the hell, ya?" he said. He sounded like he was from Jamaica. "Where did you come from, ya?"

Saïx made a mental note to come back later and brutally slaughter this guy.

"Um, that doesn't really matter, kid."

"The name's Wakka."

Like he actually cared.

"Uh, yeah. Wakka? Have you seen a guy that's about as tall as me, is as skinny as a rail, and has candy apple red hair like a moomba?"

"What's a moomba?"

The angry beast inside Saïx was longing to tear him limb from limb.

"Um, it's a cat-like thing with really spiky hair," he answered. "Have you seen him?"

"Hmmmmm…..I think I saw him talking to Kairi on the beach. But he's long gone now. He disappeared out of thin air. So did Kairi."

So that's what Axel's plan was! He was going to kidnap Kairi to lure Sora into a trap! He had to tell Xemnas. But first…..

"Um, would you have any idea where he would be going?" asked Saïx.

"No, ya?" replied Wakka.

"So would that be a no or a yes?" Saïx was getting really angry now.

"That would be a no, ya?"

'_Calm down Saïx. Calm dooooownnnn…'_

"Why are you hyperventilating, ya?"

Saïx felt his fangs growing and his hair bristling up.

'_Crap.'_

"Why are you turning into a wolfman, ya?"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Saïx leaped forward and chopped the kid's head off with his claymore. End of story. Bye bye. See 'ya' later.

Once Saïx got back to his normal form, he looked down at the kid he just decapitated.

"Shit. Xemnas won't be happy."

Before anyone could see him, he summoned a portal, having an idea that Axel had gone to Roxas's old home, Twilight Town.

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OoOoOoOoOoOoOhHhHhHhHh! Suspense! Oh, how I hate Wakka. Sorry if there are any Wakka fans out there, but you know it just gets annoying after about the millionth time he says "YA." Anyway, I am still sorry for taking such a long time to update on everything. It's summer and I'm having way too much fun doing nothing. You know how it is.

I want at least 13 reviews for this chapter please. Then I'll update again.

But if not, that's okay.

-WODF


	10. Lost Once More

WEEEEEEEEE! It's the next chapter of Cold Fire! Thanks to all of the fans that are reviewing for this. XD

Now on to the tenth chapter! Only three more to go….

But before I go typing this next chapter, I want to say that I've been noticing that this story has been moving really fast. I'm going to try to slow it down a bit, but as you may know, I'm not very good at that kind of thing. So please forgive me for being so fast-paced in my writing! Thanx:)

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Chapter Ten: Lost Once More

Sora ran down the streets of Twilight Town along with Donald and Goofy, following the strange creature named Vivi. There was something wrong here, he knew it. Because this was his second time visiting the town, he actually knew where he was going now. Rounding the corner into the Sandlot, where someone from Organization XIII was standing. Immediately Sora whipped out his Keyblade, ready to fight. The cloaked man only swayed slightly and motioned toward it.

"You won't need that now," he said, waving a pointer finger toward it. "I'm only here to tell you some news about your beloved Kairi."

The man had a strange aura to his voice. It chilled Sora down to the very bone. At the mention of Kairi's name, he nearly jumped up in excitement and fear.

"You know where Kairi is?" he asked almost angrily, not trusting this man at all.

"Yes, I do," he answered. "But I'm sure you wouldn't like to hear exactly where she's gone to or why she's missing."

"Yes I do!" yelled Sora angrily. "Tell me NOW!"

'_What a snarling brat,' _thought Saïx to himself.

"Fine," he said in an uncaring tone. "But first, allow me to introduce myself."

He lifted a gloved hand up and pulled his hood back. He could see the horrified look on Sora's face as the boy looked up at his face. He smiled inwardly and flipped his hair to get it all out of his cloak.

"My name's Saïx," he said, bringing both of his arms to his side. "And you must be Sora."

"Cut the crap and tell me where she is!" he yelled furiously.

'_Did his parents ever spank him?' _Saïx wondered.

"Fine. A man named Axel took her in hopes of putting you in a trap. Axel was a member of our Organization, but he turned on us just recently to look for an old friend of his. You see, if he could be able to find his friend, he would need you to do it. And he knew about your love for Kairi, so he kidnapped her off of your beloved islands and tried using her as a trap for you."

"SO where is she?"

"She's locked away in our castle dungeon with no hope of escape," answered Saïx.

Sora glared at him.

"You people have a castle now?" asked Goofy.

"Yes, we do," said Saïx. "Is there a reason why you should care?"

"Well……..no…..not really," said Goofy.

'_I would really like to know why the savior of the universe is a total idiot,' _thought Saïx to himself.

"Listen," he said. "If you want to find her, then you must find Axel. And judging by how badly he wants to find you, it should be relatively easy."

Saïx tapped into the darkness and summoned a portal behind him that led to The World That Never Was. He turned around and started walking towards it.

"Wait!" yelled Sora. He summoned his Keyblade once more.

'_What **else **does that nimrod need to know? Oh well. I'll just pretend to not hear him and back up slowly into the portal. That will get him annoyed.'_

Saïx backed up slowly, still facing Sora. This made Sora and co. really annoyed, and Sora got angry because of it.

"WAIT!" he yelled louder.

He saw an evil smile from Saïx and the blue-haired man disappeared behind the black mist of darkness that was the portal.

"What a jerk," said Donald.

"Oh well," said Goofy. "You can't expect the bad guys to tell you everything you need to know. Let's just keep moving and get to Hollow Bastion."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Sora.

The three of them walked out of the Sandlot and walked down the street to Tram Common, ready to get into their Gummi Ship. They had no idea how hard the next mission would be…….

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Xemnas watched in anticipation down at the Great Maw, which was now filled with thousands of Heartless. All he needed now was the Keyblade Master to come and wipe them all out, giving Kingdom Hearts more power. It would be great to feel again.

All of a sudden Xemnas felt the darkness close to him. Looking behind him, he saw Saïx step out of a freshly opened portal with a triumphant, but evil smile on his face.

"Any news?" he asked the blue-haired man.

"Yes," he answered. "Axel was planning to kidnap Kairi from her islands in hope of setting Sora into a trap. However, he didn't realize that his teleportation had been warped and he sent her into our world, where a group of my Nobodies is watching her."

"Good. And where exactly is Axel going?"

Saïx looked at his master for a second.

"I believe…..he's going to Hollow Bastion," he answered, obviously unsure of himself.

"Excellent," Xemnas answered. "We can all wait for him here. I'll notify the rest of the Organization."

Saïx bent down and bowed, leaving to find the renegade Axel.

Xemnas just simply adored Saïx's loyalty.

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(_Axel's POV)_

How could his calculations have been so wrong? She was supposed to land in the fake Twilight Town, not the real one! He mentally cursed DiZ for ever creating a simulation one of the most beautiful towns on the map.

He sighed and summoned up a portal, leading directly to where Kairi should've landed. Stepping in, he saw all of Roxas's so-called "friends" gathered around her, just talking. As soon as they noticed him, Axel felt completely freaked out. He hated it when every single pair of eyeballs was focused directly on him. Sure, he liked being the center of attention, but just having so many people staring at him really freaked him out.

"Hi, my name's Axel and I'm here to crash the party," he said in his usual teenager-replicating tone.

And they just stared. Axel was getting more freaked out every passing moment.

"Look," he said. "If you're not going to do anything but sit there like a bunch of retards and stare at me, then I'll just take the girl and leave."

He could see everyone's faces light up. He knew he said the right thing to get them going.

First of all, the small blonde-haired kid jumped up and tried to attack him. Of course, Axel was much stronger and experienced than him and shoved him out of the way with a simple wave of his hand. Next, the fat kid waddled over to him and made a pathetic attempt to try and knock him over, but Axel repeated what he did with the other one and shoved him out of his way. Now, Kairi and the other girl were sitting there all alone, both looking completely innocent. Axel smirked. This was possibly the easiest thing he had ever done since the time he convinced Demyx that he was a fish (A/N: okay, so that was a bit random).

He stepped forward and grabbed her arm, looking over at the pathetic girl that was sitting helplessly beside her. The living were so boring.

"Let go of me!" yelled Kairi angrily.

"Nope," answered Axel, dragging her towards the portal.

"I hate you!"

"Join the club, we've got jackets."

Kairi seemed a bit confused by this remark because her struggling stopped abruptly. Axel practically threw her into the portal and they both disappeared. Hayner, Pence, and Olette stared at the dissipated portal in disbelief. That could've possibly been the weirdest thing that had happened in their pathetic little lives so far.

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_(Saïx's POV((before))_

Saïx was walking down the Hall That Is Not Really Here when suddenly he heard a wail coming from the direction of the end of the hall. It sounded like a girl's wail. There hadn't been a girl in this place since Larxene lived here. He completely forgot what he was doing and ran down to the end of the hall, where a redheaded girl was laying on the ground, begging for help. It wasn't until he got a little bit closer to her that he realized that it was the one and only Kairi. Saïx smiled evilly as his eyes burned an even brighter shade of neon orange.

Kairi saw some kind of movement out of the corner of her eye and turned towards it, but nothing was there. She turned around again, confused about why she was in this place and that "movement" when she suddenly saw a tall man standing above her, with an evil little smirk on his face and eyes burning orange. It was about the scariest thing she had ever seen and she screamed because of it.

Saïx was terribly annoyed by her scream and immediately silenced her by putting a hand over her mouth. He felt her little teeth bite into his hand and he squeezed harder around her mouth, making the blood flow to her face stop. Her bite didn't hurt at all, just because the leather on his gloves was so thick. Otherwise, he would be in berserk mode by now. He summoned a portal around her and sent her to the Dungeon That Is Just Part of Your Delusional Mind.

'_She should be safe there,' _thought Saïx. _'I'll have to go and tell Xemnas about this.'_

Just because he's a very cautious little elfy, Saïx teleported himself down to the Dungeon That Is Just Part of Your Delusional Mind to check if she had actually made it into the humungous locked cell that he had desired her to be in. Surely enough, she was laying on the floor of the cell in a fetal position, crying and wishing that Sora was there. Saïx laughed at her weakness.

He walked over to her and noticed that she was trying to look away from him.

'_What a loser.'_

"Excuse me?" he said, now in front of the metal bars of her cell. She paid no attention to him. "When one superior to you asks for your attention, you respond."

"Go away," she said between tears.

'_Oh my god, I'm SO scared.'_

"I don't think so," said Saïx. "Now if you don't make some kind of eye contact with me I will claw out your heart, brain, and liver with my claymore as a weapon. Do you get the drift?"

"Yes sir," she answered. She turned around and faced him. "What do you want from me?"

"I want to slice every limb off of your stupid little body and drain all of your blood in the process. Of course, I want to give you a nice comfy room with many plushy pillows beforehand."

Kairi's eyes nearly bulged out of her head.

"Are you really going to do that?" she asked.

"No," answered Saïx. "I was kidding about that whole room with the plushy pillows thing."

Kairi was now even more terrified. Saïx smiled because he knew this and quickly summoned up some of his Berserker nobodies. He ordered them to stay there and guard the girl while he went and talked to Xemnas. He had heard this morning that the Keyblade Master was going to Hollow Bastion, where thousands of Heartless were awaiting him. Soon, he and Xemnas would be free. This thought pleased him.

He looked back at Kairi once more, who was now shock still because of fear. Everything was going great so far. He summoned a portal and headed for Hollow Bastion. For some reason, he had a feeling that Axel would turn up there also in his hunt for Sora. Too bad he wouldn't live to see the day when all of them reached salvation…..

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_(Axel's POV)_

Well, Axel felt totally stupid again. He had just messed up another portal and had lost Kairi. And the really sad thing was that now he had no clue where in the hell she landed. Last time, he knew that she had ended up in the real Twilight Town. Now he was sure that she was floating around in some alternate dimension. Or worse, she could have landed in The Castle That Never Was. She could be being held hostage by someone crazy, like Saïx or Xemnas. That would be a scary thought.

He looked out at the Great Maw, hoping that Sora would arrive here any minute. A few minutes ago he heard the cries of Demyx as he died by the blade of the Keyblade Master. He suddenly felt a small regret build up inside of him. He wished that he hadn't been so mean to the poor teenager. After all, all he wanted was a friend. And Axel couldn't blame him. He wanted a friend himself, too. That was why he had to find Roxas.

He saw the Great Maw deplete its Heartless level as Sora killed them all off. Before he knew it, every single Heartless was gone. But Sora didn't know what he was getting himself into. He was actually helping the "bad guys", he just didn't know it yet. Maybe he would see Roxas soon. After all, he was sure that Roxas was looking for him, too.

It was a beautiful day outside today. He wished that The World That Never Was was like this. He smiled as a warm breeze blew by him, even though the only thing he could really feel of it was the gust of air. He couldn't feel warmth, really. The only things he could feel were pain and anger.

Suddenly he heard a muffled voice echo behind him. It sounded just like a teenager's voice.

'_Sora's here!' _thought Axel excitedly. _'I've gotta hide!'_

He teleported into a small enclosed cave behind the rocks, where he could barely see the outside. Suddenly he saw Xemnas appear on the ledge of the rock, obviously waiting for Sora.

'_I sure hope he doesn't sense me here. He would kill me for sure.'_

Axel crouched down lower in hopes of not being caught. He suddenly heard the crunch of gravel as Sora and his gang ran out near the ledge, along with King Mickey.

"Xehanort!" yelled the mouse angrily.

Axel laughed at hearing his old boss's name. He was sure Xemnas hadn't been called that since about five years ago, when he lost his heart to the darkness. He heard Xemnas laugh, too.

"Ah yes, I remember my old name," he started out saying.

'_Cue the monologuing,' _Axel thought to himself. The thought itself brought shivers up his spine.

"Old name?" asked Mickey. "What do you mean 'old name'?"

Xemnas turned around and said something extremely blatant.

"Well, that's not my name anymore," he answered, matter-of-factly. "My name is Xemnas, if you really want to know."

"Xemnas?" asked Sora.

"Yes," he answered. "I am the leader of Organization XIII."

They all jumped back in shock as if he had just said a string of bad words.

"You are _their _leader?" asked Mickey.

"You make us sound like we're bad people," commented Xemnas. "All we want is our hearts back."

"Yeah right," said Donald. "You terrorize lots of people and disrupt worldly orders."

"Wow. You came up with that all by yourself? Good for you."

Axel laughed a little, but no one heard him. Sora was now fully aggravated and pulled out his Keyblade.

"What are you people up to?" he asked, stretching the Keyblade towards Xemnas as a threat.

"It's simple, really," he said, now moving closer to all of them. "We want our hearts back, but in order to get them, we need a certain amount of hearts. You see, these hearts that I speak of come from all of the Heartless you kill. Once a Heartless is killed, their heart is sent to the almighty realm of Kingdom Hearts. As soon as enough hearts are collected inside Kingdom Hearts, we Nobodies will become free and whole beings."

'_Nice speech there, Xemmy.'_

"You mean I've been helping you freaks all this time!" asked Sora angrily.

"Apparently so," said Xemnas with a sly smirk. "Makes you look like quite the loser, if I do say so myself."

Sora suddenly got really angry and ran towards Xemnas with his Keyblade ready to whack the crap out of something. But then, before he had the chance to, Xemnas summoned a portal around himself and disappeared. Sora stopped dead in his tracks.

"What do we do now?" he asked, looking behind him at his friends, expecting some kind of answer.

"I'm gonna go after him!" yelled Mickey, jumping through the barely opened portal.

"YOUR MAGESTY!" yelled Donald and Goofy simultaneously.

The portal suddenly closed and was gone. Sora sat down on the ground and punched it a few times in anger. Goofy walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Sora," he said. "We'll find him again."

"Yeah, but he knew where Riku was!" Sora complained. "Now I'll never see Riku again!"

"Don't say that. We'll find him if we keep lookin'."

"Yeah, maybe. But haven't we already looked enough?"

Axel decided this was his time to step in.

"You can never look hard enough for a friend you can't find," he said from the shadows.

The three of them immediately turned their heads back at the sound of this new voice. Axel had now teleported to the outside of the place where he was hiding and was leaning against the blue-colored rock in his usual teenage fashion. Sora and co. drew their weapons and got into a fighting stance.

"There's no need for that, guys," he said, pushing himself out of his leaning position. "I'm only here to help."

"But you're with _them,_" said Sora almost disgustedly. "Why on earth would you want to help us?"

Axel sighed as he looked at his Organization XIII robe that was still on him.

"First of all, don't ever mock us. We are only beings that are incomplete. You can't blame us for that. Second of all, I'm no longer with them. They treated me like crap and I decided that I wanted to quit being in their group. Third of all, I want to help you because you know a very dear friend of mine."

"Who are you?" asked Sora.

"My name's Axel, got it memorized?"

Sora became angry again.

"You're the one who kidnapped Kairi!" he yelled. "Tell me where she is!"

"Well, frankly, I don't really know," he said.

"But you kidnapped her! You must know where she is!"

Suddenly a portal opened up in front of Sora. Out stepped Saïx.

"Holy crap, they've found me," Axel muttered to himself, now summoning a portal out of there.

"Wait!" yelled Sora, about to run forward. But he was stopped by Saïx's arm.

"Don't listen to him, Sora," he said in his creepy voice. "He's crazy."

"But he knows where Kairi is!"

And those were the last words he heard out of Sora when he disappeared. He sure hoped Saïx wouldn't hurt him…..

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Well, that was my incredibly short, extremely crappy chapter. Please shoot me if you're not satisfied. Half of this _was_ written at a really late time.

Flames will be transferred to Lexaeus and Larxene, because they suck.

OH-----HIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


	11. Nowhere to Go

Wow. This story is seriously going down the toilet. No joke.

And by the way, my favorite KH2 character (if you really wanted to know) is either Saïx or Zexion. Axel is now loved by everyone, so I'm starting to not like him as much.

And in case you're wondering why I'm telling everybody this, it's because somebody asked me in their review who my favorite character was. So there.

On with the new chapter!

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Chapter Eleven: Nowhere to Go

Well, this just plain sucked. Axel should've made a wiser decision. Now he had nowhere to call home and he was stuck with roaming around like a hobo and trying to find a place where he could sleep comfortably. He was currently scouting out a place in Traverse Town, which had been long deserted after Sora and his gang started going to Twilight Town more often. The place was practically deserted. It was the perfect place to stay.

Axel walked down the main alleyway of the Second District, looking in every window of every house, wondering if it was deserted or not. Half of the lights were out in the streets, giving the town a foreboding and scary feel, and some windows were broken and scattered with cobwebs.

'_Definitely not a place I'd call home,' _he thought.

He looked upwards at the black night sky, which was now twinkling with bright stars. That was something he never got at his old home. The whole sky was black there except for the moon. Then he looked in the direction of the moon, almost feeling homesick as he saw that the small satellite wasn't heart-shaped. But he knew he didn't want to go back to Deep Dive. It was always miserable there. At least here, there were things living here that were whole beings.

Axel walked along, sighing, and suddenly noticed that the lights in the hotel were still on. Maybe someone would give him a room for a few nights. He walked into the hotel, feeling too tired to teleport, and saw that not a single person was there. All of the lights were on, but no one was home. He walked over to the concierge desk and rang the bell a few times. Nobody answered.

'_I guess I could just steal a room for a while,' _he thought. _'This is all very strange.'_

He walked over to the Red Room and opened the door, not surprised that it was unlocked. There were cobwebs and dust all over inside the room, making the "red" of the room look extremely dull. Axel sneezed as dust particles swirled upward and went up his nose. This place was a total dump. Axel walked over to the door that conjoined the Red Room to the Green Room and opened it, seeing more dust in the air in the Green Room.

'_What am I gonna do?' _he asked himself. _'There is no way in Hell that I'm staying in this place.'_

A sneeze interrupted his thoughts. His nose was starting to get runny.

'_Great. Now I'm allergic to dust. Who knew that Nobodies could have allergies?'_

"_Wouldn't you be surprised?" _another voice said in his head.

Axel jumped up in shock at this sudden intrusion of his head.

"Who's there?" he asked, readying his weapons.

No one answered.

"_You're not going to find me here," _said the voice again. It sounded vaguely familiar.

Then Axel had a sudden realization.

'_Oh my god! The dust is making me schizophrenic!'_

"_You idiot! It's me, Zexion!" _the voice yelled back.

Axel's eyes opened a little brighter as he smiled.

'_Oh, hey Zex. How's everything in Hell?'_

"_Mmm, same old same old. How is everything up there?"_

'_It sucks. I ran away from Deep Dive and now everybody is after me.'_

"_So I heard. How is Roxas?"_

'_I don't know, really. I went looking for him and I haven't found him yet.'_

"_Well, I've got some news for you. When you left Deep Dive, Roxas came back the very same day. You just barely missed him. And now, because of Demyx, he thinks you left there because you didn't need him."_

'_What! I knew I should've just killed that mullet-haired twerp when I had the chance! Is Roxas still there?'_

"_Yes, he is. But I doubt you could go back without getting killed. They all want to find you Axel, and if you go back for Roxas then you'll fall right into their trap."_

'_Great, as if this couldn't get any worse. Hey, how come you are always the one talking to me? Can't Demyx or Marluxia or somebody talk to me?'_

"_Sure, if they wanted to. But right now, they're all busy ripping each other's limbs off. I decided to stay out of it."_

'_I don't really blame you. I remember what it was like when Marly got angry. It was especially bad when I stole that Chanel No. 5 perfume of his.'_

"_Oh yeah. I remember that. Those were good times, man."_

Axel laughed. Zexion had just sounded like a hippie. Zexion was apparently laughing, too.

"_So what are your plans now?" _Zexion continued on. _"You have nothing else left to do and nowhere else to go. Are you still going to go and find Roxas or are you going to play it safe like I would and just stay where you are right now?"_

'_You know I'm not one to play it safe, Zexion,' _Axel answered. _'And you also know I can't live with myself if I know Roxas is angry at me. Or, for that matter, he thinks that I'm angry at him.'_

"_I know. But you have to have a plan, otherwise you'll be killed."_

'_Yeah, that's the problem. I don't know how I'm ever going to find Roxas again. Do you have any bright ideas, 'O Cloaked Schemer?'_

"_Ha ha, very funny. As a matter of fact, I do have one idea. But it might not bode well with you."_

'_Spill the beans already.'_

"_Well, you know how Roxas and Sora sometimes see what each other is seeing?"_

'_Yeah.'_

"_Have you ever noticed that this only happens when something critical is happening?"_

'_Yeah, kinda.'_

"_Well, you could go find Sora instead of Roxas and do that critical something in front of him while apologizing to Roxas. Then maybe Roxas will hear that and forgive you."_

'_And what exactly would this "something critical" be?'_

There was a moment of silence. Finally Zexion spoke up.

"_Well, because we both know that you don't really want to live anymore, maybe you could sacrifice yourself to save Sora or something. That would definitely get Roxas's attention."_

Axel just repeated the words in his head over and over until he realized the consequences.

'_But if I were dead, then I would never see Roxas again. He would end up fusing with Sora and would cease to exist from that point. I don't know what would happen to me then…'_

"_I knew you wouldn't like my idea," _said Zexion. _"But it might be the only way to ever reach Roxas until he fuses."_

'_Wait a second. What do you mean "until he fuses"?'_

Zexion was quiet once more. He seemed to be finding the right answer to Axel's question.

"_Axel, you know deep down inside you that Roxas will eventually fuse with Sora. There's no denying it. Even if Organization XIII kills him, he will somehow come back and find Sora and complete him. And by the way things look for Roxas right now, Organization XIII will never find him and he will fuse within a few days. If you ever want to speak to him again, Axel, then the best way to do it would be to follow my idea. It's the only way." _

'_I'll sleep on it, okay Zexion?'_

"_Alright. Goodnight, then."_

'_Goodnight.'_

Axel finally heard silence in his head. He zoomed back into reality as he saw the room in which he was standing in. He instantly remembered all of the dust that was in the room and how it had made him sneeze earlier. He sneezed again, feeling his sinuses clog up at the same moment. Running a hand across his nose to wipe it off, he sat down on the dusty bed.

'_At least it's a place to sleep,' _he thought.

He shed his robe and placed it in the least dusty place in the room, knowing that it was his only clothes left and he had to keep it clean. He carefully tucked himself between the sheets of the bed, finding it surprisingly comfy. He sneezed a few more times as he laid his head down on the feather pillow, which was also surprisingly comfy.

There were so many thoughts running through his mind right now. Was sacrificing himself for Sora really the best way to prove to Roxas that he still loved him? Or was just laying it low going to solve anything?

'_I need to sleep on it,' _he thought.

His eyes slid closed and he fell asleep within a matter of minutes.

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A fire was roaring nearby. The heat from the flames was everywhere and he felt it. His skin was burning off, turning black and crispy as the fire spread across his arms. He smelled burning flesh, immediately knowing that it was his own. Nobody was there to help him. It was just him and the flames.

He was in Hell, he knew it. The flames never seemed to end, giving this place an evil sense. All he could see was the color orange, burning bright everywhere his eyes darted. His eyes hurt so much looking at the fire. Tears were streaming down his face as the sclera of his eyes turned a pinkish red.

He screamed in agony as his clothes burned off and no longer protected his delicate skin underneath from the flames. He was naked now, but it looked like the flames surrounding his body were bright, shifting clothing. Nothing could save him from this impending death.

And then, like an angel had just appeared, a shadow of a man ran into the burning room. He couldn't make out who exactly it was, but he knew that no matter what he would be saved. He made an attempt to scream as loudly as he could, which just barely got the man's attention.

Feeling absolutely relieved, he took the last of his strength to push himself up and stand tall, still engulfed in flames. It was then in this light, however, he saw who his savior was.

It was Roxas standing in front of him with his arms crossed and a grimace on his face. His best friend was just standing there, waiting for something. He didn't know what. Now feeling the flame move up to his neck, Axel stumbled over to Roxas and knelt down by his feet. Roxas didn't move, nor did his expression change. He just stood there, looking down at his best once-best friend with anger and disappointment in his eyes. Axel was now pouring out the last of his tears, his mouth too parched to speak. It was then that Axel heard the words that he never wanted to hear.

"I hate you," Roxas said, barely loud enough so Axel could hear.

And it was then that Axel burned up.

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Axel screamed as he opened his eyes, feeling his skin as if to make sure he wasn't really on fire. Once again, he had a nightmare about Roxas. It was happening way too often for his liking. He took a deep breath in and immediately sneezed afterwards, remembering his newly discovered allergy to dust. He dropped back down onto the pillow and relaxed the muscles in his back, trying to relieve the tension that this nightmare had caused him.

He closed his eyes again and soaked in the silence. It had been so long since the last time he had experienced true silence, and right now it felt great. He tried to think of something else to put his body at ease, but nothing good came to mind.

He groaned as he shifted onto his side, feeling the sheets of the dusty bed stick to the pale skin of his back. It was still dark outside, but it wasn't nearly as dark as Deep Dive. Thinking about Deep Dive, he wondered if the rest of Organization XIII was still looking for him. He knew that Saïx had successfully found him in Hollow Bastion talking to Sora, but he wondered if they just gave up on it after that. It would make sense to him if they _did _give up, knowing that he was of no further use to them. He was sure that the only real reason they kept him there was because he kept Roxas there. It was like killing two birds with one stone.

He took his hands and rubbed his eyes, now feeling fully awake. He wondered how long he had been asleep. Unfortunately, there was no clock in the room, so he had to get out of bed and grab the watch he had left in his coat. He still felt a little tired, but he was fully functional anyways. He slipped his cloak back on and ran out the door, only thinking of escaping from his used-to-be comrades. Sure, he might be right about them not still trying to find him, but it would really be best if he kept on the move and made sure he never got caught.

He closed the door behind him and left.

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For the first time in ages, the humungous castle in Deep Dive was silent. Eight of Organization XIII's members had either been terminated or had run away. The remaining five members were busy doing things that Xemnas had told them to do. Xemnas, however, was sitting in his room staring at the ceiling with nothing else possibly better to do. Today was a boring day. Demyx was no longer around to bug him, Larxene wasn't there to complain about the way the male members of the Organization treated her, Zexion wasn't existing so he could sit around and be bored and make everybody depressed while doing it. Today just sucked.

That is, until Saïx came in and brought some good and bad news. He had just arrived now, completely saving Xemnas from his ultimate boredom. Saïx strode into Xemnas's room without a care, knowing that his company was always welcome. Xemnas stopped staring at the ceiling and averted his orange eyes over to Saïx.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" he asked, picking up a pencil and twirling it around between two fingers.

"Yes, there actually is, sir," Saïx answered, pulling up a seat and gently sitting down in it. "I came here to tell you that Sora has completely killed off all of the Heartless in Hollow Bastion."

Xemnas smiled and put the pencil back down on his desk.

"Did he get hurt at all?"

"No sir."

"Not even a little bit?"

"No sir."

Xemnas leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"Well, I suppose this is both good and bad," he said.

"Would you be so kind as to explain to me?" asked Saïx, now also sitting back and relaxing in his chair.

Xemnas looked into Saïx's irresistible eyes with affection.

"You see, as you may know, Sora is both an asset to us and an enemy. It's good that he slaughtered all of those heartless for us to feed Kingdom Hearts, but it's bad he didn't get hurt doing it because that only means he got stronger, _also _meaning that he would have an easier time defeating us. You get it?"

"Of course. Your logic is very comprehensive. This could be a problem."

"Yes, I don't really know what to do. If we give him harder monsters to battle, he will only get stronger. But if we just leave him alone, he will not give us hearts for Kingdom Hearts."

"Hm. What if we only give him only really weak Heartless?"

"Then it would take longer to fill up our Kingdom Hearts. The stronger the hearts, the better."

"I see. So basically, we're screwed."

"Exactly. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen in the first place. I mean, he's already killed off half of our members, and now he plans to slaughter the rest of us."

"We can't do anything, then," said Saïx. "We're predestined to be doomed."

For the first time in his very short lived life, Xemnas began to feel the slightest amount of guilt. And not just guilty that he would soon be dead, but guilty that every one of his followers would be dead, too. As he looked over at Saïx, he suddenly became aware that the blue haired elf was thinking the same thing as he was.

They would all be gone forever in a matter of days.

Saïx, not being one to start a conversation, sat in his chair quietly and looked down onto his lap, suddenly finding himself crying. He didn't make a noise when he did, though, but he could feel the warm tears sliding down his face. He didn't know why he was crying, and he noticed that Xemnas had seen the tears on his cheeks. He gave a whimper as he saw Xemnas get up out of his chair and come over to him with a look of sympathy on his face.

"I'm sorry," Xemnas whispered into his ear. "It's my entire fault."

Xemnas put his head on Saïx's shoulder and kissed him gently on the cheek, just like a mother would kiss a son's tears away when he got hurt. Saïx cried silent tears into Xemnas's shoulder and soon found himself kissing Xemnas back more passionately. Xemnas pulled Saïx's delicate head in closer to his, enjoying this moment as much as he possibly could. He could still feel Saïx's tears ooze out of his eyes, scorning himself on the inside for making his lover feel so horrible.

Once their kiss had ended, Saïx gave a small hint of a smile and embraced Xemnas, feeling his Superior's chest rise and fall as he rested his head there. Xemnas smiled too and returned the hug by wrapping his arms gently around Saïx's nimble body. Saïx sighed as he closed his eyes as his grin widened.

It had been the first time since he had joined Organization XIII that he had felt any emotion.

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I know, I know. That was a very short chapter. I have to leave some of the plot for the next chapter, y'know. Anyway, I hoped you guys liked the OOCness of Saïx in this chapter. I think that he shouldn't always be unemotional and everything. And I know that Zexion is dead, BUT HE IS TOO AWESOME TO NOT BE IN THE STORY STILL!

So, if you would review, I would give you lots of cookies. If you don't like cookies, I'll give you a cake.

And yes, I am aware that made almost no sense maybe.


	12. Goodbye Forever

Alright, and now for the tragic ending1 I'm gonna try and not be so OOC on this chapter, and add as much description as I have in Verlorene Liebe, but of course I can't promise everything.

I really hope you enjoy! And if you're wondering why I'm so happy, I got my ears pierced today and I've been wanting to forever.

Vamos nos!

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Chapter Twelve: Goodbye Forever

Axel finally knew what to do. After sleeping on the question that was running through his mind a million miles per hour, he had finally come to a conclusion.

He would sacrifice himself for Roxas, or to put in more precise words: Sora. He hated the idea of sacrificing himself for Sora, of all people, but he knew that was the only way he would ever reach Roxas again in his lifetime. Now he had to find out how this was going to work, for he had no idea how Sora would ever need his help. Now was the time to think, and already he was running out of it.

He sat down on a dusty couch, sneezing once again, and began to think of ways this could work out.

He would need some kind of miracle.

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Saïx nearly tripped over Xemnas's humungous rug as he ran into his master's room. He hated being the bringer of bad news, especially when the person receiving it tended to shoot the messenger. Xemnas got up from his desk, immediately knowing that Saïx had brought some bad news. He saw the look on the young elf's face. His eyes were dark and puffy beneath the eyelids, his teeth and fingernails were in between fangs and claws, and his eyes were filled up with the glow of his neon orange eyes. He was nearly ready to go into Berserk Mode, but in this instance he looked more tired than anything. Xemnas rushed over to his side, but Saïx only shoved him away furiously and sat down in a chair.

Xemnas went over to where Saïx was sitting and put a hand on his shoulder gently. Saïx slapped it and ran over to the corner of the room. Xemnas was now confused and angry.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked, glaring daggers at Saïx, who was completely unmoved by this act.

"I hate you," he whispered, glaring Xemnas's daggers right back at him. "You used me only for your pleasure. You never even showed the slightest interest in me."

"What are you talking about?" asked Xemnas. "You're not acting like yourself."

"Really?" asked Saïx. "I had no idea. Let me ask you something: why are you letting everybody in this Organization die so you can live? I'll probably be next!"

Xemnas stopped for a moment and thought about this.

"Saïx, it's not my fault that everybody is dead. They all died because of the Keyblade Master. You must understand…"

"No!" Saïx interrupted. "I don't want to hear one of your extremely long explanations right now! It's YOUR fault that everyone is dead, and you know it!"

Xemnas couldn't believe this. Saïx, out of all people, was acting like THIS. Something really horrible was going on.

"Saïx," said Xemnas coolly. "What is it that you need to tell me?"

Saïx just seemed to get more infuriated when Xemnas asked this. He roared angrily and strode over to Xemnas, biting him with sharp fangs in the neck. Xemnas winced as the man's anger flowed into his body through his neck, and felt warm blood flowing out of his body. He pushed Saïx off of him in his defense and watched tiredly as his lover fell over and went out of Berserk Mode. His face turned from an angry red to its normal pale color, his eyes gathered back together, and his teeth turned flat. He licked the blood that was on his lips and got back up. It was now that Xemnas realized how much the wound that Saïx had given him really hurt, and he pressed two fingers against it in an attempt to stop the blood from leaking out of him.

"I'm so sorry, sir," said Saïx weakly. "I-I was just so mad at the time and…"

"It's alright, Saïx," said Xemnas calmly. "I know how you feel right now. Times are very stressful. So what's the news?"

Saïx seemed reluctant to share the bad news. He looked down at his graceful feet and finally spoke up.

"Xaldin is dead, sir," he muttered, almost quiet enough not to be heard.

Xemnas seemed to not comprehend what Saïx had just said because his face contorted with confusion.

"You can't be serious," he said, not believing what he had just been told.

"I am," said replied seriously. "Sora killed him in battle."

Xemnas walked over to his desk and slammed his fist down upon it in anger, leaving a small dent where it came down. This was just unbelievable.

"He was one of our best!" he shouted angrily. "How could a stupid kid slaughter him as if it was nothing in the world?!"

Saïx had expected this reaction and stood quietly in the darkest corner of Xemnas's room. He just knew this would all go wrong.

"Saïx!" screamed Xemnas. Saïx stood at full attention, waiting to hear what his master had to say. "Stay with me for a while," he continued. "I need someone to vent to."

"Yes, sir."

Obedient as a dog, Saïx walked over to Xemnas's desk and stood beside him. Xemnas was still angry, he could tell, and he could feel the heat radiating from his infuriated body. He felt Xemnas wrap his arms around his body tightly, and he returned the hug, not really knowing what to do.

It was like taking care of a child.

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How could Sora EVER need his help?

Axel paced back and forth across the rough cobblestone path underneath his thin feet. This question seemed unanswerable now, for he had been thinking about it for nearly a week, and time was close to being out.

"You've got to think harder, Axel," he muttered to himself. "You have to!"

But if only he could! His mind was totally frozen, like a giant block of ice. Not even his fire could melt it. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he never thought of a viable reason. Why was this so hard!

He saw a small old lady walk by him and stare at him like he was some kind of monster. In truth, he was, but he just didn't want to be one. The day was perfect in Twilight Town, and instead of thinking he could be doing better things like going to the beach or fetching a sea-salt ice cream bar or two.

But no, he had to stay on this stupid street and think about his own death. If only he had never made the horrible decision of making friends with Roxas! Why on Earth was he still alive!

And amidst all of this complaining, a brilliant idea came to his mind. It might not work because he wasn't in Organization XIII anymore, but it was worth a shot.

The main rule about Nobodies in Organization XIII was that you could summon as many as you needed, as long as they served for a good purpose. Axel hoped that Xemnas hadn't somehow broken his ties with summoning quite yet.

He concentrated on a picture of a Dusk and opened a small portal of darkness, just small enough for a single Dusk to pop out. He felt it open and he gazed expectantly in front of him. It had worked, and there was a zipper-faced Dusk standing blindly in front of him.

Now all he had to do was summon up a whole bunch of them and pretend like they weren't in his control, and he would be all set. He already knew where this was to take place, and he now wondered why he hadn't thought of this brilliant idea before.

His luck had just taken an unexpected turn. He killed off the Dusk he had just summoned and hurried down the street to spur his plans into action.

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Sora, Donald and Goofy were standing in the middle of the computer lab of the library in Twilight Town. Pence was sitting in front of the computer, ready to type the password. Sora looked at his three choices and finally decided on impulse.

"Type in Sea-Salt Ice Cream," he said to Pence, who obliged.

On some weird laser thing in the corner of the room, a large green beam had appeared. The three friends went over and examined it, with Pence observing from behind. It seemed to be some kind of portal. Sora looked back at Pence.

"What do you think this is?" he asked.

Pence just shrugged.

"Try touching it," said Goofy. "Maybe it gives you superpowers or something."

"You're crazy," said Sora, reluctant to touch the bright green beam. "Who knows what could happen if I touched this thing."

"Just touch it!" shouted Donald, who practically threw Sora at the beam. At first, Sora felt all warm and tingly inside, but then the scene before his eyes distorted. It felt like a hook had snagged his bellybutton and pulled his body through some kind of massive vortex. It only lasted a few seconds, but once he got back in the computer room again it felt like a lifetime had passed. He watched Donald and Goofy materialize beside him, noticing that they were feeling the same way as he was.

"That was a close one, Pence," said Sora with a sigh.

There was no answer. Sora turned around.

"Pence?" he whimpered.

"Gawrsh, I think we landed in another dimension, Sora!" said Goofy. "Maybe we should go back!"

"That's a good idea," replied the now worried Sora. He turned around and tried to touch the beam again, but to his dismay he found it gone.

"Well, I guess we're stuck here," said Donald.

"Yeah," said Sora very quietly.

"C'mon, let's go!" said Goofy, leading the way out into the Basement Hall.

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Axel stood before the chasm in front of him. All he could see were swirling colors of blue, purple, red, pink, and green for miles and miles. This place was Betwixt and Between. This was the place where he would lead Sora to the World That Never Was. This was the place where he could see Roxas once again and apologize to him. This was the place where he was going to die.

He looked at the large portal he had made that would eventually lead Sora to him. Even an idiot like Sora would see the portal. Axel knew that Sora and his two friends would be arriving soon, so he quickly teleported to a place where he could hide and watch. Looking out into the great chasm from behind the colored mist, he watched and waited for the Keyblade Master to walk in.

"_Axel, you are crazy," _said a voice that was not his own.

'_What do you want, Demyx? You've already ruined my life once already,' _Axel replied.

"_What do you mean 'I've already ruined your life already'?" _Demyx snapped back. _"I believe it was **you **who ruined **my **life! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be dead right now!"_

'_You know what, Demyx? Shut up! I'm kind of busy now, and I don't need you harping about how I should pity you!'_

Another voice appeared in his head.

"_You are such a bastard, Axel!" _shouted the voice of Marluxia. _"Don't you understand that Demyx liked you before you yelled at him like that? You've really hurt his feelings, Axel, and I believe you should say sorry."_

Axel sighed.

'_I believe it is he that owes **me **an apology!' _snapped Axel. _'Because of him, I'm going to have to kill myself to ever talk to Roxas again!'_

"_IT'S YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT THAT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO THIS, **AXEL!**" _Demyx roared, making Axel's brain hurt with this sudden outburst. _"If you had never become friends with Roxas, you would not be running away from Xemnas and the rest of the Organization, you wouldn't be killing yourself right now, and most importantly, YOU WOULD BE FRIENDS WITH **ME**!"_

Axel didn't know what to say. For once in the very short time that he had known him, Demyx was making sense. Now he was really beginning to think about what his life would've been like without Roxas.

"_See what Roxas has done to you, Axel?" _said the one and only voice of Zexion. _"We all think that you would've been better off without him."_

'_I thought you were on my side, Zexion!' _Axel said.

"_I am, just not about you being better off with Roxas," _he answered. _"Demyx is absolutely right. Think of the things that wouldn't have gone wrong if you had only turned down his invitation to become his friend."_

This was getting out of hand. He nervously glanced out into the chasm, sighing with relief when he saw that Sora was not out there, looking around expectantly.

"_You know we're only going to keep bothering you until you admit it,"_ said Vexen in his icy voice. _"Even if we have to keep you from your little guest."_

'_Why are you all doing this to me **now**?' _asked Axel. _'In fact, why do you guys even care about me?'_

"_Because what you are about to do is stupid, that's why," _answered Zexion. Axel heard a few grunts of agreement in the background.

'_You people have no right to tell me what to do!' _Axel yelled.

"_YES WE DO!" _all of them yelled. Axel swore he heard Demyx sobbing in the background.

This time Xaldin started trying to reason with him. _"Axel, you're only going to throw your life away. You're going to end up like all of us, down here in this godforsaken place. You should preserve your life the best you can, at least until you get a heart."_

"_It must be great to have a heart," _murmured the deep voice of Lexaeus.

"**SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!"**

There was no more noise in his head, not even the sound of breathing. They had all gone.

Axel looked out into the great chasm. Sora was still not there. He took a deep breath and sat down on the wispy ground.

"Maybe I really would have been better off without Roxas," he muttered to himself. "I feel so bad for yelling at them, especially Demyx. They were only trying to help…"

He could feel warm tears slide down his cheeks. He didn't even know that he had started crying until he felt their wetness and warmth. He took a gloved hand up to his face and wiped away a silver tear. He didn't even remember the last time he had cried. Taking his knees to his chest, he rested his spiky head across his legs. He really did feel sorry for yelling at Demyx…

All of a sudden he heard a duck yelling gibberish. Anxious, he got up and looked out into the chasm. Sora had arrived. Now was the time to choose between life and death. After a few minutes of thinking, he had decided.

Delving deep into his mind, he focused on the voice of Demyx.

'_Demyx?' _he asked.

There was a moment of silence until Demyx responded. He still sounded like he was crying. In a soft voice, he responded:

"…_What do you want, Axel?"_

'_I just wanted to say sorry… for everything.'_

"_I-I'll forgive you…"_

'_Goodbye…'_

Axel closed off his mind, but not quickly enough to hear Demyx start crying again.

Stepping out of the shadows, Axel used all of his strength and summoned up as many Dusks as he could.

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"Sora, look over there!" yelled Donald.

A Dusk appeared out of thin air. Sora ran over to it and killed it, but another one appeared after that one. Before he could even take a step over to the new one, an army of them had appeared.

"Draw your weapons!" yelled Sora to Donald and Goofy. He smiled as he saw that they had already done so.

"You're goin' down!" yelled Goofy, leaping into the sea of Dusks.

After ten minutes of fruitless effort, the three jumped into the middle of the army of Dusks and found themselves trapped inside.

"It's useless!" yelled Donald, stating the obvious.

"We're gonna die!" yelled Goofy.

Suddenly two flaming chakrams whizzed by and nailed a Dusk in the head, killing it. The three friends looked around until they found Axel fighting off Dusk after Dusk after Dusk. Sora smiled, but remained slightly suspicious.

"Don't stop moving, or the darkness will overtake you!" yelled Axel, nailing another Dusk. "Get going!"

"Why?" Sora asked.

"Don't ask, just do it!" Axel snapped.

Suddenly a Dusk jumped on him. Axel, trying to act like he was doing something good, pretended like he was hurt and watched Sora run over to him.

"You okay?" asked Sora, fighting off a few more Dusks.

Just jumping to the point of this whole thing and told Sora all about Kairi and Organization XIII. A Dusk suddenly jumped out of the air and tried to attack them, but Sora killed it with his Keyblade.

"Leave us alone!" he yelled, getting up. Axel got up also, pretending like he was weak. He could've easily just killed all of these Dusks, but he had a job to do and did not want to screw it up.

After more useless fighting, Sora and Axel met in the middle of the army of Dusks, just like Sora, Donald, and Goofy had done before. They both had their weapons ready and were poised to fight.

"You know, I think I liked it better when they were on my side," said Axel, just playing along with the game.

"Feeling a little regret?" Sora was totally falling for this.

"Nah, I can handle these punks!" he answered. He was really having fun with this.

He jumped forward, taking all of his remaining energy and pushing it through his body at rapid speed. His chakrams went absolutely crazy, circling around him and shrouded with flame. Before he knew it, his own fire had beaten him.

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The things he was saying to Sora came out in a blur. He couldn't see at all. He didn't even know what he was saying. His body felt numb…but comfortably numb.

All of a sudden, a bright white light flashed before his eyes. Roxas appeared, along with the rest of the Organization. Roxas had tears in his beautiful sapphire eyes, and as Axel looked back at the rest of his former comrades, he saw that their eyes were filled with tears, too. Why they were, he couldn't explain. He looked back at Roxas, who had knelt over his weak body, giving him a hug.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in Axel's ear.

Axel, who was now crying, whispered, "I'm sorry too, Roxas."

Both of them stood there embraced for a few more seconds, until Axel was taken away from him. He felt a jolt of pain shatter the numbness he had felt only seconds before, and found himself sinking into the dark depths of oblivion…dying…dead.

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YAY! Only one more chapter of this story and this fanfiction is complete! It will be the epilogue, and it will have a sad ending, sorry to say.

Meanwhile, please tell me what you think about this chapter, seeing as I've been working on it for almost and eternity now…

Thank you for reading! See you in the next (and final) chapter!


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